Nigel Scullion (NT, Country Liberal Party, Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

The direct answer to your question is they are going to continue to go to these family and children centres because they are staying open. They are not going anywhere. The children will continue to attend those centres. I have to say as I move around those centres that they are excellent centres, and I commend the previous government for the building of those centres.

As I move around the centres, they seem a bit curious when they ask me: 'Why didn't the previous government actually, when they put this agreement in place, take care of future funding arrangements? Why didn't they put in place something in forward estimates that actually dealt with some of those matters?' But, by and large, we have 38 family and children centres that were provided for. It cost almost $300 million.

As I move around the country, I have to say the vast majority of these centres are doing extremely well. There are some anomalies to that in terms of the feedback that I have had from some of them. They are run effectively, and this was part of a national agreement that they would be the responsibility of the states. They were handed out to the states and territories, and the states and territories would continue to fund them. That was actually a national agreement. That was the entire agreement.

So, as I said, the children will continue to attend these centres, and they are going to get access to a whole suite of state, territory and Commonwealth services.