Safe electorates losers in cash splurges

Voters and community groups in marginal electorates are collecting tens of millions of dollars more than those in safe seats, according to an analysis of pork barrelling by successive Labor and Coalition governments.

Number crunching by Fairfax Media reveals almost 20 per cent worth of $624 million in community grants dished out by the coalition since 2013 have gone to just five marginal seats, which hold just 0.2 per cent of the population.

The pattern was the same under Labor, which awarded 40 per cent of $568 million in grants to marginal seats which it held before losing the 2013 election, meaning the electorates raked in six times as much as safer seats.

Former Liberal leader John Hewson accused both parties of engaging in a race to the bottom.

"The public suspicion of the political process has just been heightened by all these snouts in the trough," he said, calling for the establishment of an independent panel to oversee the grants.