Malcolm Turnbull (Wentworth, Liberal Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

():The estimations and forecasts and calculations of experienced economists like Dr Richardson are always taken into account by the public and, indeed, by members of this House. I took care to say that I am not confirming or commenting on his estimate other than to say he is a former Treasury economist and we should heed his advice: it may or may not be correct. His estimate depends, as we all know, on the assumptions that he has made. Whether the assumptions are well founded or whether they prove to be correct, time will tell.

Let me be very clear about this. The opposition is entitled to ask what the 10-year cost of the enterprise tax cuts will be. They are entitled to ask that. But, as the member for McMahon knows very well, as a former Treasurer and a biographer of many treasurers, the practice has been for many years that detailed line items for all measures are set out over the forward estimates—over a period of four years. The medium-term projections, which are also set out in the budget papers, do not identify those individual line items, and they are not and have not historically been provided in the budget papers.

The fact is that what the opposition is seeking to do, as I said a moment ago, is distract attention from the enormous black hole they have in their own forecasts. They have over-estimated the receipts that would come from an increase in tobacco tax by $20 billion. Their black hole keeps on getting bigger.

Mr Brendan O'Connor interjecting—

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