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Federal Member for Hume, Alby Schultz, has spoken out on revelations that a staggering $10 million was spent on defending the rights of 9 Sydney terrorists who were subsequently found guilty of terrorism offences.
“In a Senate Estimates hearing today, Senator Guy Barnett, Chair of the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Reference Committee, tabled an answer to a question on notice from the Attorney General’s Department that revealed that the amount spent on defending 9 Sydney terrorists, up until 30 September last year was a staggering $10.117 million.” Mr Schultz said.
“I am sure that the majority of Australians would be shocked to learn that over $10 million of taxpayers money, their money, had been spent on the rights of those suspected and eventually convicted of terrorist offences against Australia.”
“That’s over a million dollars defending each terrorist.” Mr Schultz added.
“Every year there are thousands of Australians who aren’t able to access legal aid, yet the Rudd Labor Government made available from the Expensive Commonwealth Criminal Cases Fund millions to defend people who were eventually found guilty of terrorism.”
“The amount spent defending these terrorists was only slightly less than the entire legal aid budget for Tasmania in 2008/09, when you see this kind of money being spent like this, it really makes you question what this Government’s priorities really are.”
“The Government and Mr Rudd certainly do have a lot of explaining to do and Senator Barnett has said he will further pursue this matter later today when he will question representatives from the Attorney General’s Department” Mr Schultz concluded.
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