Senator CHANEY (Western AustraliaMinister for Administrative Services) - I have now been shown the section under which the various bodies which have tax deductible status are listed. It is quite proper for Senator Button to query the priorities given to children and wildlife.

Senator Missen - They have something in common.

Senator CHANEY - I will ignore the irreverent interjection from Senator Missen. Senator Button will be pleased to know, as I am, that under section 78 one of the bodies which has this benefit is the United Nations Appeal for Children, so there is another example of the bodies which are selected for tax deductible status. There is a great variety of such bodies, including the Council for Christian Education in Schools, the various national trusts of the States and the Sydney Myer Music Bowl Trust. One might well ask why the latter organisation was singled out when it benefits Melbourne in particular. Although the expression 'ad hoc' might be objected to by some, there is a very great mixture of bodies which have this tax status.

I would have thought, given the current considerable interest in wildlife conservation, that it was not at all peculiar for this body to receive the status that it has. Even Brigitte Bardot seems to have devoted a massive amount of her attention over the last few years to the preservation of dying species. Members of the Australian Labor Party might take great heart from that because she may even direct some of her attention to them. All that tends to demonstrate that many people are taking interest in this area. The fact that the Australian Government also is taking an interest I would have thought would have been welcomed. That somebody as distinguished as the Duke of Edinburgh is the patron of this fund simply underlines its broad public acceptability. I have not noticed that he becomes patron of things which do not have that character and I do not see that fact as being in any sense something which ought to be questioned.