Attorney-General Senator George Brandis. Photo: Andrew Meares

Attorney-General George Brandis asked: Where is the Cambodia money?

Sydney Morning Herald | 5 June 2014

The government has been accused of artificially inflating the aid budget by $370 million to fund Cambodia to resettle Australian-bound refugees.

In a fiery Senate estimates hearing on Wednesday, Labor Senator Sam Dastyari and Greens Senator Sarah Hanson-Young claimed the government was using aid budget as a ''slush fund'' to finance refugee resettlement plans in the impoverished country of Cambodia. 

Both Senator Dastyari and Senator Hanson-Young continually quizzed Attorney-General George Brandis and officials from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade over the sudden funding increase to the ''Cross regional programs'', which more than doubled from $309.1 million to $686.9 million in this year's budget.

''That is the largest cross regional programs that it's ever been,'' Mr Dastyari declared. ''Where is the Cambodia money Senator Brandis?

''The head of immigration has said it's not in their budget, it's sitting here in the aid budget.'' 

To which Mr Brandis replied: ''Senator Dastyari, we will take that on notice.'' 

When asked if he wouldn't rule it out, Mr Brandis replied, ''I said I would take it on notice''.

Deputy secretary of DFAT Ewen McDonald said the bulk of the funding had gone to scholarships and replenishments.

But in last week's estimates hearing, the secretary of immigration Martin Bowles could not say where the funding for Cambodia would come from, saying he might look at ''other ways of dealing with these issues within the current budget''.

Immigration Minister Scott Morrison told a party room meeting on Tuesday in Canberra that the meetings with Cambodia were going well but the government had "not yet reached an agreement".

In the same meeting Foreign Affairs Minister Julie Bishop said Cambodia was an "aspirational nation" that was determined elevate itself from poverty. [REALLY?  The Cambodian people have yet to be informed on this, that there will be a reversal of fortune, for a better reality]

Senator Hanson-Young said the government could not guarantee the safety of asylum seekers in Cambodia.

"The Abbott government is staying silent about this money for now, but it's certainly an extraordinary coincidence," Senator Hanson-Young said.

"Just when the Coalition needed more foreign aid money to bribe our neighbours into opening another refugee dump, these funds appeared in the budget.''

Last year Labor faced a barrage of criticism after it used $375 million of foreign aid for offshore processing of asylum seekers.

It also poured $1.1 billion into operating the Manus Island detention centre over four years, while directing $420 million more in foreign aid to the country.