Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Shadow Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

My comments to the Senate are entirely relevant because I am explaining the motivation of the government in refusing to answer these questions. Treasury is able to answer these questions. Treasury would have been able to answer these questions on the spot during the last Senate estimates. The reason Treasury had to take these questions on notice is that, at the political level, this Labor government did not want Treasury to provide answers. It is an absolute disgrace that, more than three months down the track, the Senate still does not have access to that information. Of course, this is the modus operandi of this government. They stuff up because they are an incompetent, divided and deeply dysfunctional government. They stuff up, and after the stuff-up they go for the cover-up. If there were an easy answer to provide, I am sure they would have provided it to us long ago.

No wonder they are trying to hide all of this information. We have to remember that Senator Wong, as finance minister, presided over a $25 billion deterioration in our budget position in one year. From December 2010 to December 2011, the budget position for the 2011-12 financial year deteriorated by $25 billion in one year, Senator Arbib.