Yvette D'Ath (Petrie, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

outside of caretaker mode. I hear the member for Mayo interject. The fact is that there are members, including the shadow Treasurer, who have stood here today at the dispatch box and tried to argue that no such provision exists. The shadow Treasurer tried to argue here that even outside of caretaker mode these things would be released. In fact, that is ignoring what the bill actually outlines.

The fact is the bill makes provision, consistent with the recommendations, for confidentiality. Those confidentiality provisions do not exist in one area, and that has to do with caretaker mode. Why? Because the government believes that it is extremely important that all parties who release their policies while we are in caretaker mode should also publicly release the costings for those policies. Major parties cannot run around and announce policies during caretaker mode and then not have to explain the costings to anyone. The public has a right to know what those costings are. The fact is that time and time again opposition members have stood up in this House today and argued that that information should not be publicly released. Why? They do not like what happened in 2010, when they were shown to have a massive black hole.

They do not ever again want to have their black holes shown up in relation to budget shortfalls or anything else. The fact is that the public have a right to know. The government is more than happy to put its costings up in relation to its publicly announced policies, as should the opposition. They should stop trying to use this bill, and their private member's bill, as a way of getting around that. This is not an opportunity. They should stand by what Mr Costello said when he introduced the Charter of Budget Honesty and looked at this area. He said that it is important to have this part of public policy be transparent. It should go on indefinitely. It does not matter who is in government it should be the practice that these costings are publicly released.

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