Mathias Cormann (WA, Liberal Party, Minister for Finance) Share this | Hansard source

That is a very important question. I see that people on the Labor side are laughing about the inconvenience they caused people across Australia, because they imposed on people across Australia. The Labor government went after money that they knew was not theirs. They went after money that they knew they would have to pay back. They went after money which they knew people would be forced to claim back through ASIC. In fact, that generated an industry of businesspeople who are now charging people 25 per cent commissions on money which is their money, out of their own bank accounts, in order get their own money back. Of course, 156,000 bank accounts worth around $550 million were raided. That money is not our money. It is not the government's money. It is people's own money. It has serious consequences in terms of imposing costs and inconvenience on people across Australia essentially to try and create the false impression that the government had more money than it actually did. (Time expired)