The University of Wollongong paid $695 for SMART Infrastructure representatives to attend three Liberal Party fundraisers on Sydney's North Shore while the university-owned research company was working on contracts from the NSW Liberal government.
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SMART Infrastructure has provided research commissioned by Transport NSW, Port Kembla Port Corporation and Rail Corp. In addition to the Bradfield Forum Liberal fundraisers in 2012-2013, UOW also sent SMART Infrastructure representatives to a "transport function" in 2010, costing the taxpayer-funded institution $300.
In 2010, UOW attended two lunches with former NSW Transport Minister Gladys Berejiklian at a cost of $2000 before her government was elected in 2011.
SMART Infrastructure was commissioned in 2011 to build "rail net", described as "an optimisation model of the Illawarra rail network" for Rail Corp, Port Kembla Port Corporation, Pacific National and BlueScope.
In 2010, SMART had been commissioned by Transport for NSW for the "Shaping the Sydney of Tomorrow" project, with a UOW spokesperson confirming "SMART still has a number of commissioned research projects ongoing with Transport for NSW".
UOW was recently revealed to have donated $25,000 over four years to major political parties, the majority going to the Coalition. Last week, the Auditor-General warned he was considering a ban on publicly-funded universities making political donations. UOW has maintained attendance at ticketed events was necessary and aligned with the university's goals and objectives.
The Australian newspaper on Wednesday claimed UOW had paid for a Liberal Party campaign director to attend a Liberal Party breakfast on the upper North Shore while forking out $17,000 for its director of government relations, Canio Fierravanti, to attend 27 political events since 2011.
UOW released a statement late on Wednesday claiming the article was "unbalanced" and that it "rejects the inferences of political bias and impropriety in relation to its government engagement activities made by The Australian."
