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

The extensive consultation we have had since we have been in government seems to support that a whole range of areas were being delivered in a way that had no context to the circumstances under which people found themselves. We were delivering over a huge area whether it was through FaHCSIA or whether it was Department of Human Services. All of these programs across the country were not really dysfunctional in themselves but they were not engaged under a single coordinated process, so that is what we have done. We have brought all of these together under the umbrella of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet, so we have the primacy of Prime Minister and Cabinet appropriately to ensure that we close the gap on opportunity for our First Australians. I do not have to defend so-called attacks against those processes or the rationalisation of our delivery of programs. I know that this is a part of all of the Indigenous communities that we have consulted with.