Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Hansard source

I am very pleased to be able to make this opening statement. How nice it is to be doing this consideration-in-detail phase of the appropriation bills on this side of the chamber. I must say, when we were in opposition, we used to actually turn up for this part of the appropriation bills proceedings. Perhaps we will get sensible questions from the member for Holt and the member for Griffith. But as a shadow minister I used to take these responsibilities very seriously, and we would come here for the whole hour and we would arrive here on time. Clearly these are not things that the shadow minister takes that seriously. I would have thought that, with the opportunity to question a government about a budget that they were so excited about, they would take the opportunity to do that. But clearly they do not.

This budget will help build on a more prosperous nation. Fighting and preventing criminal activity is a key priority for the Abbott government, since only safe communities can become strong and prosperous. This budget delivers on a number of our key election commitments. We are ensuring that all proceeds of crime are used to fight crime. We are doing this by reversing the previous Labor government's decision to freeze the $61 million retained in the confiscated assets account. Under this government this money will now be released for community crime prevention initiatives. Under the previous government, of course, they used to use this money to prop up their dodgy budget bottom line. The member for Lilley, who was the then Treasurer, used to literally take from criminals to prop up his budget bottom line—rather extraordinary. We will ensure that that money goes to fighting criminals.

Fifty million dollars will be invested to boost the efforts of local communities to address crime and antisocial behaviour through the government's Safer Streets Programme. Eighteen million dollars will be invested in the schools security program to ensure that our children can be educated in a safe and secure environment. For the first time funding can be used for security guards as well as to install security infrastructure such as CCTV, lighting and fencing in schools. One million dollars will be provided in 2014-15 to the Australian Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity to expand its oversight to Australia's new border force. Ten point two million dollars will be invested over three years to establish a Western Australian strike team within the National Anti-gang Squad.

Fifteen million dollars will be provided to states and territories through the National Bushfire Mitigation Programme to implement long-term mitigation strategies and better fuel-reduction programs. This measure will help to make sure Australia is better prepared and can withstand the impacts of natural disasters. Funding will also be provided to work with the United Kingdom government to have Captain Matthew Flinders's original 1804 chart of Australia transferred to Australia on long-term loan. The government has committed $193,000 over two years to fund this project. This chart is literally seen as the birth certificate of the nation and is a very significant part of our history.

This budget is also focused on ensuring that Australians are served by an efficient and effective civil justice framework. Notwithstanding the difficult financial circumstances that have been left to us by the previous government, the Abbott government has kept to a minimum savings sought from the arts sector. Across the forward estimates, total reductions in arts funding have been limited to only 3.1 per cent. Most of those savings come from uncommitted funds or from bringing forward the termination date of programs which were due to terminate during the life of the current parliament in any event. The government has decided to quarantine the 28 major performing arts companies—the great flagship companies which bring the best of classical music, opera, dance and drama to Australians audiences—from any reduction in funding at all. This reflects our commitment to the sector and in particular our commitment to giving audiences the maximum opportunity to enjoy the best of Australian performance art.

Because the government is committed to ensuring that those opportunities extend to Australians who live outside the capital cities, the government has decided to quarantine funding for regional arts from any reduction. As anyone with any knowledge or understanding of the sector is well aware, the arts have done particularly well in this budget, notwithstanding the very difficult choices that we face.

In this budget we also announced two new arts funding initiatives. Importantly, these measures have also had a positive impact on the budget bottom line. The key measures that we are doing to contribute to budget stability are the amalgamation of key Commonwealth merits review tribunals. This will make it easier to navigate the merits review system by providing an accessible one-stop shop for external merits review. I am happy to go into that at a later stage.

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