QUESTIONS WITHOUT NOTICE

Senator GALLAGHER (Australian Capital Territory—Minister for Finance, Minister for the Public Service, Minister for Women, Minister for Government Services and Manager of Government Business in the Senate) (14:22): We have invested heavily in this area, Senator Waters. I accept that there can be an argument about whether that's enough. I think, certainly, Minister Plibersek and I both acknowledge that more needs to be done.

We've invested over $4 billion into women's safety. We've supported the continuation of around the same amount, $4 billion, into the national legal access partnership. There is a role for states and territories here.

They run a lot of the services, and I know, in Queensland and in the Northern Territory, they've made cutbacks to the service sector in this area. So, where we are providing more money, we are seeing some state governments withdraw money. This is a genuine partnership.

We need to work with the states and territories. The second action plan will certainly inform the decisions that the government makes, through the budget process, about areas of priority, areas that we need to do further investment in and areas where we have to encourage the states and territories to work more with us.