Simon Birmingham (SA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

(—) (): Our government did provide, in the most recent budget, $63 million towards social cohesion measures to help to bring Australians together. That included some $37.3 million in relation to measures that help to promote unifying Australian values, identity and social cohesion and countering malign information online. We recognise that such disinformation is a very serious threat. Some $17.7 million was provided to enhance engagement with multicultural communities and $7.9 million towards research initiatives to help the ongoing work in relation to these areas. The Department of Home Affairs has had more than 13,900 engagements with key multicultural groups in supporting these efforts—a 519 per cent increase in terms of direct outreach in that regard to make sure that we are able to respond as comprehensively as possible. (Time expired)