Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Banking and Financial Services) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to Senator Minchin, the Minister for Finance and Administration. I refer to reports of incorrect costing or the lack of costing of major government promises, including the mature age worker tax offset, which blew out by $380 million; the child care tax rebate, which was underspent by $450 million; and the Prime Minister’s water package, which was not costed at all. Can the minister explain why these billion-dollar promises either are varying in cost by hundreds of millions of dollars—some even before they begin—or are not being submitted for costing approval in the first place? Can the minister also indicate why the government has covered up the public release of updated costs for some programs—isn’t the government failing to adhere to its own Charter of Budget Honesty?—and why the finance minister is failing to ensure proper oversight of the costing and process for billions of dollars in programs?