House debates

Tuesday, 9 May 2023

Questions without Notice

Prime Minister

3:22 pm

Photo of Anthony AlbaneseAnthony Albanese (Grayndler, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

The Minister for Communications just outlined the issue with the office of the eSafety Commissioner, the funding for which would end on June 30 under the provisions made by those opposite. But it's not alone. There were child and youth mental health programs—stopped funding. There were family violence prevention legal service providers. There's myGov: My Health Record would not exist were it not funded by us in this budget, because its funding dropped off on 30 June. There are issues such as the National Library of Australia's Trove, which has been so important for researchers—again, no funding. There's the Australian Radioactive Waste Agency funding for nuclear waste management, slated to end in December 2023.

Then there are the examples of unfunded and underinvested programs going forward. There were big announcements from the former Prime Minister about the Brisbane Olympic Games but, unfortunately, not a dollar of funding—not one dollar for the Brisbane Olympic and Paralympic Games. There was nothing for the Commonwealth biosecurity operating costs shortfalls, nothing for Questacon operations to be fixed up, nothing for the Sydney Harbour Federation Trust that was needed. There was underinvestment in Commonwealth national parks like Kakadu. In a building just down the road here, called the National Gallery of Australia, we have, thanks to Gough Whitlam and his vision, one painting that is worth half a billion dollars—one artwork—yet they have buckets there because of water dripping from the leaky roof due to underfunding. Tonight, my government is getting on with putting together a budget that tackles the immediate challenges, better shares opportunities and lays the foundation for a better and more secure future.

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