MARK DREYFUS MP

The Abbott-Turnbull Government stunned the arts community today when it emerged a further $12 million of arts funding from a ministerial slush fund had been quietly snuck out over the same weekend the election was announced.

In the rush to make Prime Minister Turnbull's deadline for an early election, government ministers have announced more than 100 appointments in a single week.

President of the Human Rights Commission Gillian Triggs has this morning confirmed that Attorney-General George Brandis has not guaranteed additional funding to cover an increased number of Commissioner appointments, effectively delivering the Commission a backdoor cut of $700,000.

In yesterday's Budget Senator Brandis locked in harsh cuts to vital legal assistance services, which will result in Australians in need being turned away from their doors.

Malcolm Turnbull has smashed the hopes of thousands of survivors of child sexual abuse in last night's budget by failing to allocate any funding for a national redress scheme.

Last night's budget has done nothing to reverse damage done to the arts by the Abbott-Turnbull government, and locks in harsh cuts to national cultural institutions.

Malcolm Turnbull is continuing Tony Abbott's ideological attack on environmental advocacy groups.

Arts minister Mitch Fifield has chosen the day before the budget to unceremoniously dump details of 79 arts grants from his Catalyst fund, without so much as a press release.

Today, late on a Friday afternoon the week before the budget, Attorney-General George Brandis released his response to a vital Productivity Commission report on Access to Justice delivered to him 17 months ago in September 2014.

Another day, another example of the Turnbull Government following Labor's lead on an important policy issue.