Tanya Plibersek (Sydney, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

and then leaks the outcome. What is extraordinary about this is not only that the foreign minister did not know but that members opposite seem to have missed what was in the budget last May. It is extraordinary that they do not understand that the cuts to legal services will close community legal services and family violence prevention legal services in the electorates.

We heard today from the Attorney-General that that is all fixed. He is a fixer apparently, just like the education minister. We have another fixer, and the Prime Minister is, I think, the other fixer. The Minister for Social Services—another fixer. They are all fixers. So the Attorney-General fixer went out today and said he had fixed the issue of legal services. I called the legal service in my electorate, the Redfern Legal Centre, who have done a fantastic job over many decades, and they said that instead of having a shortfall of about $340,000 they will have a shortfall of about $290,000. A $290,000 cut instead of a $341,970 cut means that they lose half their solicitors, lose three areas of legal practice and turn away 500 people. It means they cannot help the people who go to them normally for help, and that includes the victims of family violence in very large numbers.

On the one hand we have had the Minister for Social Services going out and saying he has fixed homelessness, when he never restored the $44 million they cut in the last budget. We have the Attorney-General saying they have fixed support for legal services for victims of domestic violence, and that is not true. Rosie Batty, the Australian of the Year, said that she was assured by the Prime Minister and by the minister assisting him, Michaelia Cash, that no front-line services to domestic violence victims would be cut, and that is not true. She has returned from Mildura, where they will cut one full-time lawyer, and that lawyer will finish work on 30 June.

We see services cut, the most important services. We have alcohol and drug services that are closing on 30 June, and the Royal Flying Doctor Service's Rural Women's GP Service is also facing closure on 30 June. (Time expired)

See this speech in context