MRC Grant Review: Taxpayer money squandered on questionable grants
A targeted review undertaken by the Menzies Research Centre of Federal Government grants awarded between July 2022 and December 2024 shows that over $65 million of taxpayer money has been squandered on projects of questionable value, including highly ideological research in areas of state responsibility, such as hospitals and prisons.
Some of these grants include over $1 million to “decolonise” breastfeeding for Indigenous mothers, more than $300,000 on a solo exhibition showcasing an artist “subverting and renegotiating souvenir tea towels ... that renegotiates racially stereotyped images of First Nations peoples” and nearly $900,000 on developing an anti-racist dental health system under a program called “The mouth as an expression of racial injustice” .
The analysis forms part of the MRC's Stop the Bloat report on government efficiency.
Our research was covered extensively by national media.