Michael Keenan (Stirling, Liberal Party, Minister for Justice) Share this | Hansard source

It is with great pleasure that I rise in this consideration in detail on the Appropriation Bill (No. 1) 2015-16, specifically in relation to the Attorney-General's portfolio, because this portfolio encompasses a key priority of the Abbott government, which is to protect the safety and security of our citizens and our interests. That is why this budget has included $205.2 million within the Attorney-General's portfolio for key measures that support the government's national security, border control and criminal justice priorities.

The measures in this budget will help to protect us from terrorism, protect our national borders and continue the ongoing fight against people-smuggling while promoting a stable, peaceful and prosperous community. We will do this by contributing $131.3 million to industry to help us with the up-front capital costs of data retention. This will ensure that law enforcement and national security agencies have the information that they need to keep the community safe. This has been a key priority that has been consistently raised with us by our agencies. We will invest $40 million in initiatives that counter violent extremism, including $21 million to limit the impact of terrorist narratives on domestic audiences. The vast majority of that money will be spent in the online environment, where we know that people are receiving these messages.

We will provide an additional $12.9 million over four years to the Australia Commission for Law Enforcement Integrity to fight corruption enabled border crime. This will double ACLEI's investment capability. We will also provide them with $2.9 million over four years so that they can continue their important work in relation to AUSTRAC, the CrimTrac agency and the Department of Agriculture. We will also be creating a dedicated, multiagency, serious financial crime task force, which will build on the success of Project Wickenby, which has collected over $865 million worth of outstanding revenue and led to a Commonwealth operational response to high priority serious financial crimes. We will also spend $12½ million over three years for the continuation of the disruption and deterrence task group, which forms part of the Operation Sovereign Borders policy, a policy that has been so successful in helping us deal with Labor's failed legacy on our borders, where we saw over 50,000 people arrive illegally into our country.

This budget is also focused on ensuring an efficient and effective civil justice framework as part of the government's ongoing commitment to improving law and justice outcomes for all Australians. The government is bringing forward a number of measures to ensure that resources are targeted to where they are needed most and to protect the most vulnerable members of our society. These key measures include $3.1 billion in funding for legal aid commissions and community legal centres over five years delivered through a new national partnership agreement. This agreement will support an integrated, accessible legal assistance sector that is responsive to the legal needs of the most disadvantaged people in our country.

Also, to ensure sustainable access to justice, we will be delivering an additional $22.5 million into our court system over four years to enhance capability to provide services in areas such as family law, with $16.5 million to be injected into the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court and $5.9 million to be injected into the Federal Court. Injections into each court will remain as per the budget papers for 2015-16, but the following years will be adjusted as necessary when the courts become a single administrative body from 1 July 2016. This also includes $30 million in funding for critical infrastructure maintenance for works on our court buildings.

In this budget, very importantly, we will also be allocating $5.8 million over four years to continue to support native title respondents to resolve the interests of native title claims. This extends an election commitment that we made in 2013 to provide increased financial assistance for native title respondents beyond 31 December this year. Finally, the Attorney-General's portfolio is contributing $76.6 million over five years in savings for this year's budget. The portfolio is also providing over $100 in additional revenue over four years. (Time expired)

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