Katy Gallagher (ACT, Australian Labor Party, Minister for the Public Service) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Liddle for the supplementary. I don't accept the costings that she outlined in relation to the referendum. I point out that back in the day when it was bipartisan there was an allocation made in the budget by the former government—almost half of that, from memory, nearly in the order of $200 million—for constitutional recognition. In that fact, the funding we provided to the AEC—

Thank you, Senator Farrell—was in the order of $386 million, and half was met from the allocation that had been left by Senator Birmingham when he was finance minister. We will continue to listen and we will continue to work hand in hand with First Nations organisations on the ground on the support and investment that they need.