Serious questions about billions spent on recovery in Queensland

When a group of federal emergency management officials gathered in 2018 to see a video and photographs of a road repair in a far north Queensland town, their reaction was one of shock.

The video shows anti-corruption activist Jason Ward carving chunks of bitumen from the road using a teaspoon. He crumbles the material between his fingers. He slides his arms effortlessly beneath the road surface and lifts it up like a bedsheet.

This was no ancient piece of blacktop. It was a new road, built with federal funds under an infrastructure repair scheme called the National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangements.

Australian taxpayers bankroll the rebuilding of roads, bridges and infrastructure…