Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I thank Senator Evans for confirming that there will be no cutbacks to the cadets arrangements in Australia, which is very good news. I ask the minister again to confirm that for all those young cadets who are now worried about their futures. The minister mentioned in his answer that there was a lack of staff cadets. Minister, is the reason for the lack of staff cadets the fact that there is no money to pay them because there is a $5.2 billion cutback in Defence spending by the Labor government?