Ian Macdonald (Queensland, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for Northern and Remote Australia) Share this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I take it from the minister's refusal to answer that the suggestion that they have been cut from 100 to 21 is not true, and I am grateful for that. Is the minister aware of reports that 51 Far North Queensland Regiment, a unit with one-third of its force as Indigenous Australian soldiers engaged in conducting reconnaissance and surveillance and engaging with the community in Northern Australia, has had to cut training operations by 75 per cent due to lack of funding? Are these reports true, Minister?