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

The Labor Party has no shame when it comes to casting around for more cash to feed its addiction to reckless and wasteful spending. The Labor Party has got no shame when it comes to rushing things through, pushing things through without proper scrutiny, irrespective of the unintended consequences and the damage that it might do. And it has no shame when it comes to the use of spin to make things appear different from what they are.

Let there be no doubt that this bill, the Treasury Legislation Amendment (Unclaimed Money and Other Measures) Bill 2012, is a shameless grab for cash from a government which is desperate for more cash to plug its budget holes. This is a rapid, six-month raid on people's bank accounts, first home saver accounts, superannuation accounts and life insurance—supposedly, all lost. But of course the devil is in the detail.

The government are trying to make people believe that this is all about them—all about helping them, somehow, about reuniting them with their money more quickly over the six months, from 31 December 2012 to 30 June 2013. The government will end up with $762 million worth of additional revenue.

This is revenue which was not budgeted at budget time and it is revenue which was not budgeted when the government promised that, in 2012, they would deliver a $1½ billion surplus. This is a measure that was first announced in the Mid-year Economic and Fiscal Outlook and it is a measure which will deliver the government nearly three-quarters of their promised 2012-13 surplus of $1,770,000,000, as advised in MYEFO.

The government is not being upfront with the Australian people. The government is trying to make people believe something that is not.