The Australian Rugby Union has been awarded a A$1.7M ($1.2M) grant to "move its Sydney offices to Moore Park and expand a version of the game from a state government fund designed to build community infrastructure," according to Nicholls & Saulwick of the SYDNEY MORNING HERALD. The funding -- authorized by Deputy Premier Troy Grant -- is "more than three times that given to other projects last financial year under the ClubGRANTS scheme, funded via the poker machine profits of the state's largest clubs." But the ARU "is not proposing to move offices for another two years." Grant is "refusing to disclose the exact terms of the payment, citing 'commercial in confidence' concerns." And Mike Colreavy, the chairman of the independent committee established to advise Grant on payments from the fund, "would not say if he and the committee supported the decision." The ARU was awarded more than three times the supposed maximum -- A$1.67M ($1.2M) -- for "Relocation of ARU to Moore Park Precinct and Stronger Regional Communities Initiative." The guidelines also state the projects "need to start by May 2015, and be finished within two years." But the ARU is not "intending to move offices" from its base at St. Leonards to Moore Park until '17, when its current lease expires. It is understood that the ARU "will not receive all the funding until it does move offices." But this "does not explain why the grant was awarded" in the '14-15 financial year (SMH, 7/13).
