Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Manager of Government Business in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Wright for her question. At the outset, there are a couple of issues to do with this question that I want to make plain. One is that the rates at which people are put in prison is a state and territory matter in the first instance. The Commonwealth has a very low rate of imprisonment. Anyone imprisoned for a federal offence is usually imprisoned by the states and territories.

I will seek further information from the Attorney-General about the particular grants that the Attorney-General's portfolio provides. But as a general rule—and if I am wrong about this I will have it corrected—there would be open and competitive tenders for grants. If there were not, they would be by application and assessed on their merits. I have no doubt that the way the system would work in the Attorney-General's portfolio would be similar to many systems across government. I want to challenge the underlying assumption that was included in the question, that somehow the Attorney-General would be in a position to determine the outcome of particular granting systems within his portfolio or that it would not be through a merit based open selection process or a system that would ensure a competitive tender. If the Senator was suggesting that the Attorney-General is picking favourites, I reject that inference. I have no doubt the Attorney-General would be able to support that view. But I will seek additional information— (Time expired)