Mr MELHAM(12.37 p.m.) —One issue that still needs clarification is the definition of Commonwealth offence. What happens in trials that involve Commonwealth offences and state offences, who is going to bear the brunt of that? You have a number of drug matters where the accused is charged with Commonwealth offences in relation to importation, and the accused could also be charged with state offences.

What happens in bankcard offences? If you are dealing with a Commonwealth bank, you have a mixture of Commonwealth and state offences. I am interested, and I am sure the parliament is interested at the moment, in what constitutes a Commonwealth offence and what will the Commonwealth fund? Are there areas of disagreement as to what does constitute a Commonwealth offence, or are the officials still deciding what the definition means?

The Attorney-General has confirmed in his contribution today that the bean counters did get to this part of the budget. I think it is a false dividend. He talks about the efficiency dividend and the deficit and having to rein in the deficit, and at the same time he talks about a number of cases that will no longer be funded. That is going to produce false economies of scale because if an accused is not represented, will the judge discharge the accused because he or she cannot get a fair trial? If the judge does not discharge them, you will then have unrepresented accused and that will slow down the trial process. Trials that go for one week or less will go longer because the judge will be required to take more caution in terms of that trial.

I know this because I have had that experience. Jockey Smith was a classic when it came to representing himself. He could tie up the courts in New South Wales for six months at a time and then he would get legal aid on his appeal and get a fresh trial. That is what is going to happen.

When I was a public defender, when I was a legal aid solicitor, the efficiency dividend was applied overwhelmingly by having a legal representative in there who had, in effect, no incentive to prolong a matter. Cases were run efficiently. Accused were getting proper advice. Pleas of guilty were being conducted at an earlier stage. Sentence indications were given. It was churning over. These cuts are going to mean that people are not going to get legal advice. With no legal advice they are going to go into the courts and clog the system up. There will be pleas of not guilty when there should be pleas of guilty. This is going to have a multiplier effect.

That is why the judges are screaming blue murder. That is going to be the result. The bean counters are going to bring the system to a halt. There has been a clear message. Look at what the High Court has had to do. It has just had the efficiency dividend applied to it and it was left with two options: does it sit less often and not go around the countryside, or does it close to the public on weekends and public holidays? The High Court took the correct decision. That has meant that there is no access to that court on weekends and public holidays. The public cannot go through the court to familiarise themselves with the highest court in the land.

I think that the High Court was left with no option. The High Court should be quarantined from the efficiency dividend. Fancy placing the court in that position. You have the President of the Senate, Mrs Reid, attacking the court for that decision. They made the correct decision. To sit less often would have been the wrong decision. But that is something you can blame the bean counters for. Again, it sends the wrong message. There are some areas—and this is one of them—where they have got it drastically wrong, and time will show that.

At the time when racism is being encouraged in this community, when there are more complaints of racial abuse and vilification coming at all levels in New South Wales and elsewhere, we go after HREOC. What kind of message does that send to the rednecks in the community? It says that government is responding to their low grade, prejudiced and ill-informed concerns. You have the member for Oxley (Ms Hanson) claiming credit for government policy. It sends the wrong message. HREOC was expanded, and specialised divisions are the way to go, in my opinion. We should be encouraging HREOC and Auditors-General and a whole range of other independent watchdogs, not gutting them, which is what this budget has done. (Time expired)