Gai Brodtmann (Canberra, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Defence) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The cuts being inflicted by those opposite seem to have no bounds. Contrary to pre-election promises that health and education would be spared, they are now prime targets. As of last week this government will no longer be funding the Alcohol and Other Drugs Council of Australia. ADCA has operated since 1966 as the peak body for organisations working to minimise the harm caused by drugs and alcohol, on an annual budget of just $1.6 million.

I know those opposite claim that we are in a budget emergency, but let's have some perspective. The cost of one Australian living with foetal alcohol spectrum disorder over their lifetime is $15 million. That is almost 10 times the annual budget of ADCA.

Yesterday was World AIDS Day and the Minister for Health spoke about the need for continued vigilance in preventing the spread of HIV. Why, then, has he scrapped the body that has been at the forefront of understanding and working with syringe-using communities in the fight against HIV? Why has he scrapped the body working with our neighbours in Asia and the Pacific to help them understand the links between injecting drugs and HIV infection? In 46 years this is the only government that has decided it can do without ADCA's advice. The government has saved $1.6 million this financial year, but what will be the long-term cost of the decision to scrap ADCA?