Attorney General Senator George Brandis accused of covering up ...

news.com.au
May 28, 2014

http://www.news.com.au/national/attorney-general-senator-george-brandis-accused-of-covering-up-movement-of-royal-commission-funds/story-fncynjr2-1226934194337

Please explain: Labor's Mark Dreyfus, pictured with Anthony Albanese (L) has demanded an explanation from the Abbott government.

THE Attorney-General George Brandis has been accused of attempting to cover up the movement of funds from the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse to Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Program.

In what has been described by Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus as an “indication of the government’s twisted priorities”, the accusation comes after Senate Estimates revealed the Abbott government shifted millions of dollars in unspent money from the child sexual abuse royal inquiry to the inquiry into the former-Labor government’s home insulation program.

Labor’s disastrous program resulted in the deaths of four young men.

“They [Liberal party] said in Opposition that they supported the royal commission, but they are now taking from it to pay for the royal commission insulation program,” Mr Dreyfus told news.com.au.

“To have deliberately taken money from the child sexual abuse commission and to try to conceal what they’ve done is quite wrong.”

The Attorney-General's Department revealed $6.7 million designated for the 18-month-old the child sexual abuse royal inquiry was redirected to the insulation commission.

$2.7 million came from funding earmarked to help pay the legal costs of witnesses to the child sexual abuse royal inquiry.

But the secretary of the Attorney-General’s Department, Roger Wilkins, has refuted Mr Dreyfus’s comments.

“There should be no suggestion that funding was taken away from the Child Abuse Royal Commission that it needed, or without its knowledge,” Mr Wilkins told Senate Estimates today.

Mr Wilkins revealed that the money was redirected to the Home Insulation Royal Commission after fitout works came in under budget — resulting in $4 million in savings.

The Attorney-General’s Department redirected an additional $2.7 million when the Commonwealth didn’t incur expected costs for its representation before the Child Abuse Royal Commission in 2013-14.

“I confirm that both royal commission capital funding and the departmental funding was a result of savings, that is money that has been reappropriated that would otherwise have been returned to the consolidated revenue fund. It was not being used,” Mr Wilkins said.

“It was not a case of removing funding from an existing need and leaving that need under-resourced.”

Earlier, Mr Dreyfus demanded the government explain why almost a third of the funding into the insulation commission has come from the child sexual abuse royal inquiry.

“From the start Senator Brandis has tried to conceal where the funding for his Royal Commission into the Home Insulation Program came from,” Mr Dreyfus told news.com.au.

“Last Senate Estimates, Senator Brandis denied any funding for the Home Insulation Program Royal Commission had come from any other royal commission.

“We now know that is completely untrue.

“The Government has been forced to admit that $6.7 million has been taken from the Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse Royal Commission.

“Senator Brandis needs to explain when the decision to divert this funding was made and why he has been hiding that decision from Australians.”

Meanwhile, in a Facebook post slamming the cuts, Opposition Leader Bill shorten said: “The Government is cutting funding for the Royal Commission into Child Sexual Abuse. It doesn’t get much worse than this.

“This Royal Commission is too important to be hit by Tony Abbott’s budget of broken promises.”

The money came from savings achieved in last year’s budget, the department said in a published response to a question on notice from a Senate Estimates hearing in February.

At the time, Senator Brandis was asked if any other inquiries might suffer to fund the insulation commission.

When Senator Brandis was initially asked the question in February, he replied, “No”.

But in a response to news.com.au, a spokesman for Senator Brandis said the child sexual abuse royal inquiry would have sufficient funding.

“No allocation of funds has been made which would have the effect of limiting resources available to the Royal Commission into Child Sex Abuse,” he said.

The pink batts inquiry, which led to four deaths, began just before Christmas.

It has so far heard from former prime minister Kevin Rudd and his ministers Peter Garrett, Greg Combet and Mark Arbib earlier in May.

The total cost of the insulation commission is expected to be $19 million.

It was also revealed the Royal Commissioner, Ian Hanger, will be paid $730,000 for his services.

Former prime minister Julia Gillard set up the child sexual abuse royal inquiry in November 2012.