Rachel Siewert (WA, Australian Greens) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Assistant Minister for Health, Senator Nash. Given that, as the Prime Minister said today, the Closing the gap report is profoundly disappointing and there has been little progress if any—very little; virtually none—in closing-the-gap targets for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and their chronic health issues are on the rise, how can your government justify cutting $168 million from the Aboriginal health budget when there is clearly still work to be done to close the gap? When the Prime Minister promised that this step backward would be followed by two steps forward, was that a commitment to return the funding that he cut in last year's budget?