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

This $50 million is being provided from the criminal Confiscated Assets Account—money which, when Labor was in government, they froze. Previous governments of all political persuasions have spent proceeds of crime money on fighting crime, with the exception of the Labor government, when, in their frantic search for savings to prop up the budget they had destroyed, froze proceeds of crime money and refused to spend it on crime fighting initiatives. The member for Lilley has been suspended from the services of the House, but I hope he got a chance to write a thank-you note to Tony Mokbel, 'Thanks, Tony, for helping me prop up the budget bottom line that we had so destroyed.'

Opposition members interjecting—

This is exactly what you did. You took the money from criminals to prop up you dodgy budget bottom line.

Opposition members interjecting—

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