Murray Watt (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you, Senator Thorpe. Obviously, I'm not in a position to disclose announcements that the government may make in the context of this year's budget. Sitting this close to the Minister for Finance, it would be very dangerous to reveal those kinds of things! But certainly the government does acknowledge that there are some very real issues around legal aid funding, including to Aboriginal legal services in the way that you've described.

As I understand it, the Attorney-General has commenced a review surrounding these issues. No doubt, once that review is completed, he will be in a position to say more about that, but what we are doing in the meantime is fulfilling an election commitment by designing and implementing the National Justice Reinvestment Program, which will provide $79 million to support community-led justice reinvestment initiatives. The government opened applications for the National Justice Reinvestment Program and the Justice Reinvestment in Central Australia Program in September 2023. In the first cycle—