Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On indulgence, I seek to make a correction to the record. On 18 June 2008 in the Main Committee during consideration in detail of the appropriations of the Department of Finance and Deregulation the member for Dickson asked a question in relation to advertising campaigns. In my response I made reference to the National Skin Cancer Awareness Campaign. By way of clarification, the Minister for Health and Ageing received approval for continuing the campaign from the Prime Minister in December 2007. I was consulted by the minister before formal approval from the Prime Minister was sought as I had requested ministers with advertising campaigns in development to advise me of their proposals before taking any further steps. This reflected the incoming government’s strong commitment to reducing spending on government advertising and ensuring that such advertising is not used for party political benefit. I did not receive specific advice from the Department of Finance and Deregulation on this particular matter.