Angus Taylor labels Anthony Albanese ‘serial liar’ for not coming clean over golf club sewage claim

Opposition Leader Angus Taylor says Anthony Albanese is a “serial liar” as the Coalition and crossbench continue to hound the Prime Minister over his incorrect assertion about the reason a $6 million grant was awarded to a golf club in his electorate.

Mr Albanese had initially claimed that the Marrickville Golf Club — of which he is an honorary member — was given the cash for works to prevent effluent flowing into a nearby river. But that was torpedoed by in Senate Estimates this week, when officials from the infrastructure department confirmed the Federal project did not cover any sewerage works.

That prompted the Prime Minister to make a rare concession of fault when he told Parliament his earlier assertion was “not correct”.

“The NSW Government is funding the sewerage-related aspects of the club, which has been an issue for a very long time,” he said.

“The funding was going to be for sewerage; the NSW Government has stepped in, which is appropriate because NSW run water and sewerage.”

The saga has been seized upon by Mr Albanese’s opponents, who say it is part of a pattern of mistruths from the Prime Minister.

“The problem with this Prime Minister is he digs in, he denies and he refuses to come clean with the Australian people,” Mr Taylor said.

“Just come clean, Prime Minister, for once, be honest with the Australian people.

“Time and time again you’ve been shown to be a serial liar.”

The golf club grant first hit headlines last month after a Centre for Public Integrity investigation found the $560 million program through which it was funded was invitation-only and heavily favoured safe Labor seats and marginal contests the party hoped to win.

Days later, it was revealed that the Prime Minister had not included his honorary membership of the club on his register of interests, claiming he was unaware he was a member.

Coalition frontbenchers unsuccessfully sought to table documents in Question Time on Wednesday, showing the Prime Minister hadn’t mentioned sewerage issues at the club prior to the grant being awarded.

“Now there is not one skerrick of evidence, not one microscopic piece of evidence that this grant had anything to do with sewerage and yet, he claimed from the beginning, that it did,” Mr Taylor said.

Liberal Cook MP Simon Kennedy said it was unclear where the claim originated.

“The Prime Minister claimed the sewerage works were originally part of the $6 million invite-only, taxpayer funded grant to Marrickville Golf Club. Can the Prime Minister explain with a straight face why there is no mention of a sewer works in the Prime Minister’s own announcement on March 2025?,” he said.

“No mention of the Inner West Council documents. No mention of sewerage works on the Grant Connect website? No mention of sewerage works on the Golf Club website? And no mention of sewerage works in the Infrastructure Department’s decision brief?”

Mr Albanese said the Federal grant formed part of a broader election commitment in April last year to upgrade the precinct, before the NSW Government took over the project September 2025.

Liberal Senator James Paterson also said Anthony Albanese should have corrected record “at (the) earliest opportunity”.

“Whenever you make a false statement, as soon as you become aware of it, you are obliged to go at the earliest opportunity to correct the record. He did not do so,” Senator Paterson told News24 on Thursday.

“In years gone by, this would have cost a minister their job. Under Albanese’s Government, there are no standards at all.”