Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Defence Science and Personnel) Share this | Hansard source

The relevance of the question is about tobacco and what we are doing for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Let me just go to more detail around the general health initiatives for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. The member should know that we are investing in this budget $1.2 billion in 2011-12 compared to what they did in their last budget in 2006-07, $0.5 billion. This is a substantial growth in investment and we expect to get concrete outcomes from that investment. The government has continued funding of $39.1 million over four years for projects to assist stolen generations. But significantly, going back to the issue that was raised by the shadow minister, we are absolutely focused on bringing down tobacco consumption rates amongst Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians. Do you want to have a discussion about what we are doing to address Aboriginal—through you, Mr Deputy Speaker—

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