Senator KIM CARR (Victoria—Minister for Human Services) (14:31): I thank you, Mr President. I indicate that the answer I give has to be relevant to the question and the question, it would appear to me, seems to be covered by notice of motion No. 706. But I will try to be helpful to the senator and I do appreciate the fact that she has given us notice of her intention to ask this question. I can advise her that the funding for the Wyong youth skills and employment centre was announced in July 2010. Yes, it was an election commitment worth $2.7 million and the commitment was for a joint project between the Wyong Shire Council and Central Coast Group Training. This commitment was reflected in the project guidelines. The centre is part of the Community Infrastructure Grants' Youth Commitment program. Those grants go to examples of the way in which the government is seeking to provide support to young people to make the most of opportunities that exist, particularly enhancing their opportunities for training, employment and engagement in the community. In 2010 the government launched the National Strategy for Young Australians, which aimed to empower young people to develop their abilities. This is an undertaking consistent with that commitment. As part of the commitment, $10 million was awarded in five arts, business and community centres for young Australians. This is one of those. As to your specific suggestion of a change in program guidelines, senior officers of the department of schools are continuing to liaise and negotiate with both of the Wyong parties to attempt to fulfil the original election commitment. Senior DEEWR officers met with applicants individually and together on 9 February. Senator Fierravanti-Wells: Mr President, I have a point of order on the issue of relevance. As the minister said, I did give him notice of the question. Senator Conroy: On the Notice Paper. Senator Fierravanti-Wells: No, I actually wrote to the minister this morning, Senator Conroy. The PRESIDENT: Order, Senator Fierravanti-Wells! All you need to do is speak to the point of order and address the chair. Senator Fierravanti-Wells: Indeed, Mr President, I was very specific in the email that I sent to Minister Carr. I referred in that email to the allegations contained in a letter from Craig Thomson to Minister Garrett dated 20 July. I specifically directed him to what was going to be in my question today and I would have thought that, under those circumstances where you do give such specific notice of a question, the issue of direct relevance becomes more important. I invite you, Mr President, to ask the minister to answer my question and be directly relevant, otherwise what is he hiding? Senator Chris Evans: Mr President, on a point of order: the assertion made by the senator is that, because she writes to the minister telling him the question, he has to give her the answer that she wants. This is a nonsense. Senator Carr has been very relevant, directly trying to deal with the issues raised by the senator, directly relevant to the issues that are already on the Notice Paper. Given the question has been allowed, Senator Carr has been enormously helpful on an issue that has been covered up hill and down dale in this parliament and at estimates for a long time. The bottom line is: just because the senator writes advising of the question does not mean the minister is required to give the answer that she wants. The PRESIDENT: Order! There is no point of order. Minister, you have five seconds remaining if you wish to continue your answer. Senator KIM CARR: I advise the Senate that the council recently took a decision to withdraw from the process. However, that decision is subject to— (Time expired)