Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister for Indigenous Australians. Given the unprecedented amount of violence in Indigenous communities following the government's withdrawal of the cashless debit card, what actions has the minister taken to restore order and protect vulnerable women and children? How much of the $250 million package for Central Australia announced by the minister in February 2023 has been spent—and on what?

Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the member for her question. I remind her that the cashless debit card is not in Central Australia. It has never been in Central Australia. The money that was allocated for Central Australia was $250 million—there is $38 million unspent. I met with the leadership group in Central Australia just two weeks ago and spoke to them and what their priorities were in terms of the expenditure of that money. They are very keen to see resources go into young people, and they are also very keen to see resources go into some of the smaller communities around Central Australia.

The investment of that $250 million is running very smoothly and, as I reported to the House several weeks ago, it has been spent in terms of youth services. When we first came into government, all the youth services were about to fall off a cliff—

Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Shadow Minister for Women) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Rubbish!

Linda Burney (Barton, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Indigenous Australians) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

It's not rubbish. We spent $20 million on propping up those youth services. We've also invested into family violence centres. We've made major investments in health, particularly in relation to the diagnosis of things like foetal alcohol syndrome and other neurological issues. That is proving very resourceful. We spoke just last week to the Northern Territory leader in relation to the rollout of law and order in Central Australia.

Finally, the announcements that were made last week by the Prime Minister go very much to the heart of this—an additional $4 billion of housing for the Northern Territory, which will have enormous roll-on effects in terms of child safety and child participation at school. The Minister for Education made a major investment in terms of education—a billion-dollar commitment to getting the schools up to the Gonski standards in the Northern Territory, which was going to take until 2050, but will now happen in the next year or two. The other thing is that we are in very close liaison and contact with people— (Time expired)