Eric Abetz (Tasmania, Liberal Party, Deputy Leader of the Opposition in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I fully agree with that, but what it highlights and shows is that the Labor Party spent 11½ years in opposition claiming cover-up and lack of transparency in this place and as soon as they got onto the treasury bench they adopted our very approach. What it shows is that there was duplicity and a forked tongue that were being exercised each time they demanded our modelling.

I asked whether modelling had been done. I have not actually asked for the modelling. I asked for the actual numbers of motor vehicles in each category that were sold and would be impacted by this measure, because surely that is the basis on which the statement is made in the explanatory memorandum as to the cost to revenue. In 2008-09, the government tells us it is going to cost us $8.5 million; in 2009-10, $9.2 million, then $10.1 million, then $11 million. That is $38.8 million. It rolls off the lips very easily. We are told that we were hugely economically irresponsible for wanting to minimise the tax impact. But we now have a $38.8 million measure. How was that calculated in the explanatory memorandum if we do not know how many motor vehicles were sold in the category? Were the figures just plucked out of thin air?