Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Mr Deputy President Marshall, and congratulations. I, too, rise to take note on the same matter. We can take no confidence from the answer provided by Senator Brandis to Senator Peris's question today. Indeed, it highlights that we can take no confidence from Senator Scullion's promise that front-line services would not be affected. In fact, you can read into Senator Brandis's answer that he, too, cannot assure that. He may agree to meet with people from—to take one example that Senator Peris raised today—NAAJA on the east Arnhem Land office closure, but let us put that into context.

The context here is the $1 million concerned—a component of the $13.4 million net loss in Indigenous legal services. Senator Brandis might refer to one-off payments, as highlighted by Senator Edwards, of $600,000, but, in the context—