Rachel Siewert WA, Australian Greens
12:32 pm
I move:
That the Senate—
(a) notes:
(i) That the 24-hour phone hotline staffed by lawyers provided by the New South Wales Aboriginal Legal Service has had its funding cut by the Federal Government, and
(ii) that New South Wales legislation requires police to call an Aboriginal legal hotline when arresting an Indigenous person, and that this service was a recommendation of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody; and
(b) calls on the Government to restore the funding to this critical service.
Mitch Fifield Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services
12:33 pm
I seek leave to make a short statement.
Mitch Fifield Victoria, Liberal Party, Assistant Minister for Social Services
The government does not support this motion. Indigenous legal service providers in all states and territories operate forms of custody notification service. The Aboriginal Legal Service New South Wales/ACT is the only provider ever to have received additional funding for its service in 2015-16. ALS NSW/ACT will receive over $17 million to provide Indigenous legal assistance in New South Wales and the ACT. This level of funding should enable the ALS NSW/ACT to continue its custody notification scheme.
Question agreed to.