Scott Morrison defends marginal seat spending saying MPs ‘know what their community needs’

‘I don’t think public servants sitting in Canberra have a better idea of what people need in their communities than their members of parliament,’ Scott Morrison says in the final week of the federal election campaign. Photograph: Mick Tsikas/EPA

The prime minister, Scott Morrison, has defended spending taxpayer funds for projects in marginal seats – including those criticised by the auditor general - saying MPs have more idea about community needs than “public servants sitting in Canberra”.

In an interview with ABC’s 7.30 on Monday, Morrison was asked to reflect on what he could have done differently including “when it came to the way your government used community sports grants as a slush fund to channel money to marginal seats?”