Richard Colbeck (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Parliamentary Secretary to the Minister for Finance and Administration) Share this | Hansard source

Senator Joyce, I think we have already agreed that you are going to places that I am not prepared to go to in relation to forward projections. You might forgive me, but I have read the report and spoken to some who were on the committee, attended the hearings and participated in the preparation of the report. That report has been prepared on the basis of the evidence that was given, and the committee was prepared to take that evidence as part of the preparation of its report. So I think it is reasonable, given the committee was looking to do that, that Treasury has made some calculations based on evidence that was given to the committee. In the same context, I think it is fair enough that those two things be taken in parallel. If the committee is prepared to take on face value the evidence that was given to it, I think it is fair enough that Treasury might consider doing the same thing.