Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I do want to be very clear with the chamber on this issue, as I was when I was acting Treasurer and some information was released publicly. This was not a discretionary decision made by government; this was a decision of the tax office and a matter on which Treasury provided advice and Treasury considered.

Whilst I know that for political reasons the opposition wish to make an issue of this, I think there is a separate issue here, which is the operation of Australia ' s tax laws. These are not discretionary decisions of ministers, and nor should they be. They are decisions which are properly made by the Australian Taxation Office and properly considered by the Treasury. Having said that—