Senator BRANDIS (Queensland—Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate, Vice-President of the Executive Council, Minister for Arts and Attorney-General) (14:01): Thank you, Senator Peris, for that question. The government is trying to do what it can to protect front-line legal assistance services, not merely to Indigenous people but to all Australians, but there is, unfortunately, Senator Peris, as you would be aware, a budget emergency in Australia today. Opposition senators interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order on my left! Senator BRANDIS: I note that there is mocking laughter from the other side, but it is an incontrovertible fact that when the Labor Party were elected to government, not quite seven years ago, this country had no public debt. When the Labor Party left office last year we had the greatest level of public debt in Australia's history and they returned not a single surplus budget— The PRESIDENT: Pause the clock. Do you have a point of order, Senator Moore? Senator Moore: Mr President, my point of order is on direct relevance to the question about the legal services provided by NAAJA and how budget cuts impact on front-line services in the Northern Territory. The PRESIDENT: Thank you, Senator Moore. Senator Moore interjecting— The PRESIDENT: Order! Senator Moore, you have raised your point of order. The minister has just under one minute left to answer his question. I draw the minister's attention to the question. Senator BRANDIS: Mr President, I am just trying to contextualise the fact that there is not as much money as we would like for some of these services because the Labor Party left no money in the budget for them. That being said, I can inform Senator Peris that NAAJA will be funded in 2014-15 to the extent of $290,000 through the safety and wellbeing program. I can also inform Senator Peris that all funding provided under the Indigenous legal assistance program to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services remains in place until at least 30 June 2015. I can finally inform Senator Peris that the government has recently provided a one-off funding allocation— (Time expired)