The NSW premier has defended the government's grant programs after more allegations of pork barrelling, saying they are delivering for regional parts of the state.
A Sydney Morning Herald report found more than three-quarters of a $100 million NSW government gambling revenue grant program was handed to coalition electorates and battleground seats over almost a decade.
"Grants are important. People criticise grant programs - I've seen on my visits to regional NSW - a number of playgrounds and netball courts that never would have been built without grants," Dominic Perrottet said on Tuesday.
"There is zero tolerance for pork barrelling," he said.
"I've made it abundantly clear to every one of my ministers that they are responsible for those grant programs."
About $75 million of the $103.4 million program was given to Liberal and National NSW electorates between 2013 and 2021, the Herald analysis shows.
The news comes after revelations last year that 95 per cent of the $252 million Stronger Communities Fund, was awarded to coalition-held electorates leading up to the 2019 election.
In November, Mr Perrottet tried to draw a line in the sand on the scandal, ordering a review into how government grant schemes were distributed, saying it was important there was public confidence to the expenditure of taxpayer funds.
NSW Labor has renewed calls for an overhaul of how government grants are distributed after the analysis was published.
Labor leader Chris Minns said the premier needs to commit to an overhaul of the way the government distributes funds to community projects.
"Again we have another example of this government using funds like it's their own piggy bank," he said on Tuesday.
"There would be thousands of deserving community projects that have missed out on funding, simply because they live in the wrong area.
"It's time to put public confidence back into the grants process in NSW."
Greens MP David Shoebridge said the fund was an "obscene abuse of public funds for partisan advantage".
He is calling on the premier to fix the scheme when parliament returns next week.
"This cannot wait for another report and yet more delay while public money is showered on the coalition's political and corporate mates," Mr Shoebridge said.
In November the NSW Upper House passed a Labor private member's bill designed to ensure more transparency around the distribution of government grants.
The bill would require ministers to spell out in writing their reasons for departing from bureaucrats' recommendations about how grant funds should be handed out and stipulates a minister wouldn't be able to issue a grant before they were given relevant information from their department.
It would also give the auditor-general stronger powers to monitor whether the government is adhering to guidelines that say how grants should be administered.
At the time, Mr Perrottet said he would not support the bill, dismissing it as a "stunt".
