Philip Ruddock (Berowra, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

It is not Gellibrand; you are right. Jagajaga was the one I intended to mention. The information that was obtained—which was part of the input as to factors that would be considered in the siting of these centres—was considered in relation to the advice that was given to me by my department. I think we have obtained the right balance on these matters. There is no electorate of Alice Springs, but there is the electorate of Lingiari. And it was always the case, particularly in those centres that were going to serve regional and more remote locations where public transport is much more difficult, that there would be a multiplicity of outposted officers to meet the particular community needs. In the case of Lingiari, it was always envisaged that the Darwin centre would make provision in Alice Springs and, because of the very large Indigenous population, it was going to receive supplementary funding to ensure that it had effective outreach services to work amongst Indigenous Australians.

The point I would make is that our belief is that each of the electorates that have been identified are appropriately serviced. There is not a centre in my electorate. There is not one in the electorate of my colleagues the member for North Sydney and the member for Bradfield. The fact is there cannot be family relationship centres in every electorate but we have done our best to ensure that they are appropriately spread.

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

Debate (on motion by Mr Neville) adjourned.

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