Sussan Ley (Farrer, Liberal Party, Minister for Health) Share this | Hansard source

I thank the member for Throsby for his question, and I thank the opposition generally for their bipartisan support today, which is World Suicide Prevention Day, and their bipartisanship yesterday on R U OK? Day. The question that the member for Throsby asks me concerns a very serious issue, and that is the scourge of and the addiction to ice and methamphetamines particularly in rural communities and certainly across Australia. It is not correct that this government has cut the funds that the member for Throsby refers to. It is not correct that particular programs have been cut, as the member for Throsby refers to.

In fact, all of the funding that we in government have undertaken for front-line drug and alcohol services has been extended for 12 months. I appreciate that those 12 months are well underway. I have undertaken to make sure that the coordinated approach with which we tackle this problem picks up the best and the most effective, wherever they are in the country. There will not be any one-size-fits-all approach from Canberra here. If the service to which the member refers is doing what it does very well and is effective, then there is no reason to expect that it would not continue to receive funding.

The saves that the member refers to are general. They have never been targeted at alcohol and drug services. Finally, may I say—

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