Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, your government has cut over $500 million from Indigenous programs in the budget. Prime Minister, how is this fair?

Tony Abbott (Warringah, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

We are reorganising more than a hundred separate programs into five. That is why we believe that we can make modest savings in this area and still deliver more to the Indigenous people of our country. The trouble with members opposite is that they spent money but they did not get outcomes. That is the sad truth. When it comes to Indigenous affairs, more than most, they spent money without getting outcomes. This is a government which is determined to get outcomes. We are still spending the money but we are doing it more efficiently. In my portfolio alone, more than $2 billion a year is spent under this budget. In the Health portfolio alone, almost $1 billion a year is spent on Indigenous health. We will spend the money, but we will do it efficiently, we will do it effectively. That is what the Indigenous people of this country deserve.