Mrs Bronwyn Bishop (Mackellar, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Seniors) Share this | Hansard source

Just to help the parliamentary secretary, the Ombudsman comes from PM&C. In the 2011-12 budget, $900,000 over two years was set aside for the Commonwealth Ombudsman to monitor irregular maritime arrivals. This was to be met through the existing resources of the office of the Ombudsman. But, unfortunately for him, in the 2012-13 budget there has been a cut in his funding. His budget has gone from $27,286,000 down to $26,952,000. Does that indicate that you do not expect any more boat arrivals? Is the Ombudsman simply to forget about this task that he was given or does the government stand by the $900,000 over two years to be utilised for that purpose?

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