Anthony Albanese had an unannounced honorary membership in the golf club, awarded $6 million.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese held in his seat an honorary membership of Marrickville Golf Club, which was promised $6 million in an invitation-only scheme at the 2025 election, which Mr Albanese did not declare.

Mr Albanese has previously spoken of his long association with the club, but entries on his register of interests dating back to his entry into Parliament in 1996 make no mention of membership of the club, either paid or honorary.

“He is on our books as an honorary member, but I think that was a very long time ago and has not been confirmed,” a Marrickville Golf Club spokesman told the ABC.

“I don’t know when he was put on the honor roll, it might have been 15 years ago or more.”

The Prime Minister’s Office did not respond to questions about Mr Albanese’s membership.

Marrickville Golf Club was one of 220 projects promised funding through an invitation-only grant program set up to pay for Labor’s election commitments.

An investigation by the Center for Public Integrity found the $560 million program heavily favored Labor’s safe seats and marginal contests the party hoped to win.

Its chairman, former judge Anthony Wylie, told the ABC on Tuesday the government had a “heavy responsibility” to justify how projects were chosen for funding.

The federal government notes that more than $1.7 billion in competitive grants was awarded through other programs, and that its MLCI program followed the grant rules and guidelines strengthened by Labor in 2024.

The club approached Albanese’s campaign headquarters with a request for funding

Marrickville Golf Club told the ABC they first approached Mr Albanese’s campaign team after the club was returned to the Greindler seat following the October 2024 redistribution of votes.

The club says it did not speak with Mr Albanese directly, but with his office.

“It was an open conversation, they said: well, the prime minister would like it – there is money,” the representative said.

“They said: look, what ideas do you have? What other needs might you have? Again an open conversation. We came back with a presentation outlining our ideas, some of which we already had in the pipeline.”

The club received $6.05 million for a complete renovation of the clubhouse, including a new outdoor dining area, repairs to sewer and storm systems, ramps and landscaping.

This promise was announced by the Prime Minister last April during the election campaign.

It was the only golf club to receive funding under the Major and Local Community Infrastructure (MLCI) Program.

The MLCI Fund was created following the election to manage the Labor Party’s election commitments, including undertaking value for money assessments.

The federal government did not explain who selected projects to receive the grant or what process was used to identify projects for funding.

Shadow infrastructure minister Bridget McKenzie questioned what role Labor MPs or candidates were playing.

“I would hate to see a situation where you have to stock up on your local member’s beer to get a grant in this country,” Senator McKenzie said.

Albanese’s long-standing association with the club

Mr Albanese has previously intervened to help Marrickville Golf Club.

In 2019, Mr Albanese and fellow Labor member and neighboring MP Linda Burney joined a campaign against local Greens’ proposal to halve the golf course to create more space in Sydney’s densely populated western suburbs.

A Daily Telegraph news article at the time noted that Mr Albanese was an “honorary non-golf member of the club”, although there was no statement of membership on his register of interests at the time.

A proposal to reduce the 18-hole course to nine was rejected.

Speaking to club members to oppose the proposed rate cuts, Mr Albanese spoke of his personal connection to the club.

“I declare an interest, I live on Beecham Street… and have been coming here for decades and using the club,” Mr Albanese said.

Mr Albanese regularly walked his dog Toto on the course when he lived nearby, and Willie the Boatman’s signature beer, Albo, is sold in the clubhouse.

Although the Prime Minister is not an avid golfer, he has taken golf lessons there.

Mr Albanese also attended the launch of Labor candidates at Marrickville Golf Club.

In 2015 he joined state Labor candidate and now Summer Hill MP Jo Heylen’s launch at the golf club.

And in 2012, Mr Albanese tweeted that he was at Marrickville Golf Club for a “local Labor Party launch”.

Membership not declared

The Register of Interests requires MPs to declare membership in any organization where a conflict of interest may be foreseeable.

Although it is generally expected that membership of a local community, sporting or charitable organization will not create or be seen as creating a potential conflict of interest, the Prime Minister has announced other honorary memberships during his time in Parliament.

This includes honorary membership of the Royal Sydney Golf Course, granted in 2025, and honorary membership of the Western Suburbs Lawn Tennis Association for several terms of Parliament, as well as membership of the Marrickville Lawn Tennis Club.

The Ministerial Code of Conduct specifically requires ministers to declare and record “personal interests,” including but not limited to pecuniary interests, where doing so would conflict with their public responsibilities.

Marrickville Golf Club is one of the most accessible courses in the country. Full membership costs $1,100 per year.

In 2020, Labor challenged then Sports Minister Bridget McKenzie over a $36,000 grant she gave to a gun club after it emerged the senator had an undisclosed honorary membership of the club.

The senator told the ABC she ultimately resigned due to a perceived conflict of interest in the grant, as she was the responsible minister who signed it.

The MLCI program is administered by the Department of Infrastructure and Catherine King is the approving minister, except in her own seat where grants are approved by another Cabinet minister.

However, Senator McKenzie says the sports grant program was an open, competitive process with the departmental evaluation process.

She said that because MLCI was by invitation only and Ms King had received a list of projects from the Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet, the government needed to explain its process.

“Ministers must explain who made the final decision and how the list of projects was compiled,” Senator McKenzie said.

The Greens called on Mr Albanese to chair the Joint Standing Committee on Elections to explain how projects were selected for funding.