Steve Fielding (Victoria, Family First Party) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. Given that the Age newspaper today reports that an examination of the operations of the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade by an expert review panel found that the department is badly underfunded, do you support comments by the head of the panel, Allan Gyngell, that staff shortages, underfunding and lack of skilled diplomats have often resulted in a failure by the department to assist desperate Australians in trouble overseas?