Chris Bowen (McMahon, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the Treasurer. I ask again: why did the Treasurer, in question time yesterday, use a figure of $1.2 billion, which represents only nine months of payments, compared with the full 12-month figure reported by the banks to the Australian stock exchange? Was the Treasurer seeking to paper over the $2 billion black hole in the bank tax?

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My attempt, albeit vain, was to try to educate the shadow Treasurer.

Opposition Members:

Opposition members interjecting—

Scott Morrison (Cook, Liberal Party, Treasurer) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

They find this witty—to educate the shadow Treasurer, the same shadow Treasurer who thinks the Chinese currency is the yen, the same shadow Treasurer who does not know what the tax-free threshold is, despite the fact that he actually lifted it. It was a simple statement of fact that that is the cash position for 2017-18. We have also outlined the accrual position for 2017-18, which is $1.6 billion. I know that these concepts are difficult for the shadow Treasurer, but again we see that the one issue that burns him most in this budget, the one issue that riles him more than any other issue in this budget—I do not see him coming in here to support the full funding of the NDIS. I do not see him coming to the dispatch box to support $18.6 billion for proper needs based school funding. I do not see him coming to the dispatch box and saying, 'We support the government to guarantee Medicare.' What I see him doing every day in this parliament is having the banks pull his strings. And which bank are you appearing on behalf of today, shadow Treasurer? You seem so deep in their debt that you cannot help yourself.