Page 2678 - Week 08 - Tuesday, 23 June 2009
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Legal Centre. Attorney, the article reported you as claiming that the commonwealth had slashed its proportion of funding to the centre from $200,000 to $70,000. Yet the federal Attorney-General, in a letter to the editor, published on Saturday in the Canberra Times refuted that claim, stating that the commonwealth had maintained its funding of the centre at $190,000 plus indexation and, in addition, there had been one-off funding in both the 2008-09 and 2009-10 financial years. Attorney, who is right, you or Mr McClelland?
MR CORBELL: I am right.
Opposition members interjecting—
MR SPEAKER: Order, members! Let us hear the answer.
MR CORBELL: The commonwealth attorney failed to mention in his letter that the commonwealth has not continued one-off grants funding for the program that has been affected at the Women’s Legal Centre, whereas the territory has. We have maintained our funding of $50,000 for that program. The commonwealth has discontinued or not renewed that grants funding because it has come to an end. That was a matter that was omitted in the commonwealth attorney’s letter.
Another point I would make about this is that at no time did I use the language “slashed” in relation to that article—that was a journalist’s phrase—but I did make clear to the journalist that the commonwealth had discontinued or not renewed its grants funding, and that was of the order of over $100,000 in relation to this program. That was a matter which I felt they should be turning their attention to, rather than criticising the ACT government, because the ACT government has actually continued its funding to the Women’s Legal Centre. There has been no discontinuation of any funding to the Women’s Legal Centre for the next 12 months. That was the point I was seeking to make to the centre and the journalist.
MR SPEAKER: Mrs Dunne, a supplementary question?
MRS DUNNE: Minister what is the level of commonwealth funding to the Women’s Legal Centre?
MR CORBELL: I do not have that information in front of me but I am happy to take the question on notice. The only other point I would make of course is that I am happy to provide it by the end of question time today, because the facts are quite clear. The commonwealth provided a grant to the Women’s Legal Centre. That grant runs out at the end of this financial year. Our grant also runs out at the end of this financial year. The ACT government continued its grants money in relation to that program for another 12 months. The commonwealth has not in relation to those grants moneys.
Planning—west Macgregor
MS LE COUTEUR: My question is to the Minister for Planning and is in relation to the recent introduction of a technical variation to the west Macgregor precinct code to increase the number of dwellings on the site from 850 to 1,300. Minister, the original
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