Senator CHRIS EVANS —I wanted to ask about the housing budget figures. As the minister would be aware, we have had the discussion in the Senate about the housing figures. I see that he came into the chamber and clarified his answer to Senator Neal.

CHAIR —That is under subprogram 4. Do you have any questions on subprogram 1—1.1, 1.2 or 1.3?

Senator CHRIS EVANS —I was going to ask you a question on heritage. For my information, Minister, where do you think the heritage protection bill would be in the Senate legislative program?

CHAIR —This is back to 1.1, is it?

Senator CHRIS EVANS —Yes.

Senator Herron —I cannot answer that. As you know, they were 100 bills behind, I think, at the last count. The deputy whip might be able to answer that.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —I am only asking because my staff member and I have got to handle the bill for us and I wanted to know whether I had any homework, or whether I could safely wait till after the election.

Senator Herron —I cannot answer that.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —I want to ask about the funding for the stolen generation litigation unit. Perhaps ATSIC could explain to me what cases it is funding and why and what criteria are involved in that program.

Mr Kent —Basically, what we have funded under that has been the action in the High Court—there has been a decision on that in favour of the government—and also action in the Federal Court.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —I gather you were not funding the government case on this occasion.

Mr Kent —No. I think the total funding provided has been about $1 million over the last three years.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —I gather there are a number of cases still in the Federal Court, are there?

Mr Kent —I think there are about 550[hyphen]odd writs to be considered—or which have been submitted.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —How many of those are you funding?

Mr Kent —We funded all the actions to date. I think there was a catchment service and then the Darwin Legal Aid Service has handled it over the last two years.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —What is the extent of that funding?

Mr Kent —Around $1 million in total over the last three years.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —What is allocated for next year?

Mr Kent —No actual figure has been allocated. We have a small test case program which in total has been about $1 million. We have received an application from the service and at the moment we are talking to them about that. We are actually trying to clarify how far they wish to take the matter.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —What are the guidelines established by ATSIC in terms of funding these sorts of cases?

Mr Kent —We have actually just recently introduced a set of guidelines for test cases which are very close to the federal government guidelines on test cases—in fact, they are very similar. They look at matters such as the chances of getting the case up, putting caps on the types of figures, brief[hyphen]out arrangements—all the things that are associated with legal matters of this type.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —Are they similar to the ones that apply to the native title test cases?

Mr Kent —I am not actually aware of the native title ones.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —Could you table the ATSIC guidelines—not right now, but can you make them available?

Mr Kent —I will take it on notice.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —Thank you. Minister, a related question is: has the government made any contingency plans for potential compensation arising out of that stolen generation's litigation?

Senator Herron —I do not think we have. No, the answer is no.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —Have you received legal advice that says that that is not necessary or is it just something that—

Senator Herron —No, it was just a decision that we would wait and see what occurred as a result of this and then it will have to be taken into budget considerations if there is a decision from the courts. But we do not, of course, know when that might be. It is early days.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —I am just interested because I was going to ask later on about the line item for native title compensation payable to the states. I wondered whether, again, that is in the same sort of category.

Senator Herron —No. I have seen a press report that there are over 700 claims in relation to the separated children. I think it would be difficult to even quantify it at this stage.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —As I say, I do not necessarily disagree with that, but I just noticed that you have made provision for compensation under the native title regime. I guess that is clear in the sense that compensation will be payable, but I just wanted to be sure that the government has made no provision at all.

Senator Herron —As I understand it, it has not.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —Is there any provision inside your budget for defence of those cases or is that purely out of A[hyphen]G's?

Senator Herron —It will be out of A[hyphen]G's and also, Mr Vaughan tells me, it comes out of the Office of Indigenous Affairs.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —So the Office of Indigenous Affairs pays some contribution towards the legal defence of these claims as well, does it?

Senator Herron —Yes.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —Sorry to do this to you, Mr Vaughan; I knew that the minute you left the table we would come back to you.

Senator Herron —I was unaware as well.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —Are you able to tell us how much, Mr Vaughan? Perhaps you could take it on notice.

Mr Peter Vaughan —I will have to take it on notice. It is a moving target in the sense that cases are going on. I can undertake to provide you with some data on the expenditure we have incurred to date.

Senator CHRIS EVANS —Thanks for that.