Andrew Leigh (Fraser, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

What we have seen tonight is the opposition move from a discussion of the Parliamentary Budget Office into a full-blown attack on a federal Public Service agency. This evening we have heard attacks by the member for Goldstein on the Treasury. For what reason? It is quite simple: the Treasury found that the opposition's costings did not add up in the last election campaign. Now we have seen the member for Mackellar go further. The member for Mackellar tonight told the chamber: Treasury has become politicised.

Once upon a time we had Liberal and National parties who believed that the Public Service should not be dragged into debates in this chamber. But that has gone. The Liberal and National parties today believe that, if the federal Public Service disagrees with what they have to say, it is fair game for political attacks. This is, of course, the same opposition whose leader, when they were completely unable to find a single economist—just one—to back their climate change package, said, 'Maybe that says something about the quality of Australian economists.'

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