Liberal MP Warren Entsch has fended off questions about a $214,000 grant awarded to his wife while the Morrison government was in power.
The public money was released under an Indigenous Languages and Arts program, to teach pottery in a remote Aboriginal community.
Yolonde Entsch, who is not Indigenous, was not required to declare her relationship with the MP in her application for the project.
She is the Liberal National Party candidate for the state seat of Cairns.
In a statement to AAP, Mr Entsch said to "read past the headlines and read the content of the article" first reported by The Australian.
"The reality is it's outside of my electorate, my wife is entitled to run her own business, I had no involvement whatsoever in the matter and the funding was clearly awarded on its own merits," he said on Tuesday.
Allegations of jumping 'the queue' for COVID vaccine
Mr Entsch also rejected separate claims he organised for a wealthy donor to jump the queue for a COVID-19 vaccine.
The Australian reported Mr Entsch organised for Russian-born property developer Alex Sekler to receive the Pfizer jab in the Torres Strait in July 2021 in order to avoid shortages in Cairns at the time.
It claimed Mr Sekler then donated $304,000 to the Liberal National Party, most of which was used to pay for the successful campaign to hold Mr Entsch's far-north Queensland seat of Leichhardt at the federal election.
Queensland Health has referred the matter to the state's Crime and Corruption Commission.
The claims were also raised during Question Time in federal parliament.
In response, Mr Entsch said Mr Sekler was approached by a representative of Torres Health to see whether he would be interested in donating an MRI machine to Thursday Island Hospital.
"That is the reason why he approached me in wanting to know about protocols in travelling up to the Torres Strait as he was invited up there to consider making a donation like the $700,000 he did at Cairns," he said.
Mr Entsch said Mr Sekler was also interested in getting the COVID-19 vaccine, possibly of the Moderna variety, so he inquired about that as well.
"The hospital said, 'If you present, we've got plenty of it and we have got quite of it that's going out of date'," Mr Entsch said.
AAP has contacted Ms Entsch for comment.
