Mark Arbib (NSW, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Social Housing and Homelessness) Share this | Hansard source

By 2013-14 the Australian government's contribution to specialist disability services will be around $1.35 billion. That is compared to $620 million under the former Howard government. It is more than a doubling of the funding.

We do not know, of course, whether the coalition will be to afford to fund these incredibly important projects that assist Australians with disability to get access to housing and services. The opposition spokesman on finance, Mr Robb, when questioned about the black hole on Channel 10 recently, said in relation to the $70 billion figure: 'That is the order of the magnitude. No, it's not a furphy. We came out with the figure.' So we know there is a $70 billion black hole. We know that every time the coalition have this sort of black hole they go straight for services, so we can expect cuts to services across disability, across housing, if the coalition get back into power.