George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

You quoted it, but you also asserted that the government has proposed cuts. There are no proposed cuts, because the matter of legal assistance funding is currently under discussion between the Commonwealth and the states and territories. The Abbott government is committed to protecting the most vulnerable members of the committee, including the provision of access to justice—a point I made as recently as last Saturday morning when I met with the directors of the Law Council of Australia at their annual meeting in Sydney.

Senator Collins, I am sure you are not aware of this, but over the next four years the Abbott government will provide $1.3 billion—

Senator Cormann interjecting—

Yes, Senator Cormann, $1.3 billion in Commonwealth legal assistance funding. It is the case that I have made the decision to reprioritise the allocation of that funding so that it focuses upon those most in need, and therefore one of the very first decisions I made as Attorney-General was to instruct that every dollar of Commonwealth legal assistance funding goes to front-line services and to casework so that every dollar of the Commonwealth's money—the $1.3 billion that we will be spending over the next four years—is spent on actual clients with actual needs, which is precisely where that money should be spent.