Nicola Roxon (Gellibrand, Australian Labor Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

I want to briefly sum up and thank all the members who have spoken on the Financial Framework Legislation Amendment Bill (No. 3) 2012. I also thank members from both sides of the House and the crossbenches for their patience and understanding that this is a bit of an unusual process to be going through, particularly with the speed that is needed, given the decision was only handed down by the High Court on Wednesday and parliament is set to finish this Thursday for a period of time. We did not want any of the programs, particularly the school chaplains program, to be in jeopardy during that time.

I also thank people for acknowledging the over 400 programs and the importance of various of those programs in people's electorates. It is the reason the government wanted to act quickly to make sure that there cannot be any question of the authority upon which we continue to fund those programs. I can put the member for Aston's mind at rest—I hope I have got my seats right: it is Aston?

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