Paul Fletcher (Bradfield, Liberal Party, Minister for Communications, Urban Infrastructure, Cities and the Arts) Share this | Hansard source

In the 2021-22 budget the Australian government announced $819.6 million over four years for new measures in the Attorney-General's portfolio, including $145.3 million over two years for the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. The Morrison government will provide $320.1 million over four years from the Women's Safety Package to further support services that assist women and children experiencing family, domestic and sexual violence to engage with the legal system.

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This includes $129 million for additional legal assistance funding for women's legal assistance under the National Legal Assistance Partnership; $101.4 million to increase access to children's contact services; $85 million over three years from 2022-23 to continue and enhance funding towards existing Family Advocacy and Support Service's family law support; and $4.7 million over two years to support a joint program of work with the states and territories to strengthen the justice response to sexual assault, sexual harassment and coercive control.

The government will provide $123.8 million over four years to support the reform of the family law system and improve access and safety for children and families. The funding includes $60.8 million to reform family law case management processes to improve outcomes and better meet the needs of families by delivering a safe, child-centred, accessible and efficient system; $29 million to improve information sharing between the family law and family violence and child protection systems to achieve the best possible outcomes for children and families interacting with the family law system, including managing risks to family safety; $26.9 million over four years from 2021-22 and $6.8 million per year ongoing to improve access to legal assistance for family law matters in South Australia, and to increase judicial and court resources in the South Australian family law registry; and $6.3 million in 2021-22 to the Family Violence and Cross-examination of Parties Scheme to continue to protect victims of family violence in family law proceedings.

The government will provide $2 billion over four years from 2021-22 for the National Mental Health and Suicide Prevention Plan, and in the Attorney-General's portfolio $77.1 million will be provided to the National Legal Assistance Partnership to support the early resolution of legal problems for those experiencing mental illness and for specialist mental health workers to support women who have experienced family violence.

The government will provide $146 million over four years from 2021-22 for initiatives to prevent child sexual abuse, including $40.8 million in the Attorney-General's portfolio to provide enhanced support to victims of child sexual abuse, including expanding the national specialist trauma-informed legal service and establishing a specialist national legal online chat service dedicated to young people experiencing, or at risk of experiencing, sexual abuse. It also provides increased resourcing for prosecuting child sexual abuse perpetrators and for managing the parole of convicted offenders.

In the Attorney-General's portfolio $9.3 million has been committed to new activities to implement the government's Roadmap for Respect, tackling sexual harassment in all Australian workplaces. The government will also provide $3.5 million over two years from 2020-21 to the Australian Human Rights Commission to conduct the Independent Review into Commonwealth Parliamentary Workplaces. Further, the government will provide $10.7 million under the Women's Economic Security Package to assist vulnerable separated women with small-value property disputes to achieve affordable, timely property settlements.

The government will provide $13.2 million over four years from 2021-22 to continue the operation of the Commonwealth Fraud Prevention Centre in developing a coordinated, whole-of-government approach to addressing fraud vulnerabilities in Commonwealth programs, including building practical tools, guidance and data analysis to support counterfraud work.

Through the 2021-22 budget, the Australian government will implement initiatives to help rebuild our economy by reducing the regulatory burden on Australian businesses, including small businesses, and that includes measures in the Attorney's portfolio for $10 million over four years from 2021-22 to implement regulatory technology solutions to assist employers to interpret and comply with modern awards.

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