Gary Hardgrave (Moreton, Liberal Party, Minister Assisting the Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

I will take a leaf out of the Prime Minister’s book. If the member wants to communicate to me the circular from which he is quoting, I will be happy to have it looked at. I will not take it at face value, even in these in-detail discussions about the expenditure of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet.

I will say, as a point of principle, as the first ever Australian minister for citizenship, one of the hallmarks of why we wanted to encourage the almost one million people living in this nation today who are not citizens but who are eligible to become Australian citizens was a job in the Public Service. It was one of the things that you could apply for as a citizen. I would be very surprised if there was a watering down of that circumstance. I would be happy, therefore, to take evidence and then, if you like, put it on notice and communicate that back to the member for Wills in due course.

Proposed expenditure agreed to.

Treasury Portfolio

Proposed expenditure, $3,509,487,000

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