Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Foreign Affairs) Share this | Hansard source

I'm very happy to take this question from the shadow minister for finance. She obviously is so worried about how well Senator Gallagher will answer the question that she isn't prepared to put the question to the minister she shadows. I can understand why. I'm also happy to take a question from the shadow minister for finance about APS job cuts given her policy is that 36,000 jobs will go. That's the policy that she is advocating for. I'm also happy to take a question from the shadow minister for finance from a party that took jobs out of the Department of Veterans' Affairs, which left veterans without the support they deserved. There were some 42,000 veterans with unallocated claims that you presided over, because you weren't prepared to fund the Department of Veterans' Affairs. These are just some of the highlights of the way in which those opposite have no credibility when it comes to these issues. Every question from them on this and every utterance from the shadow minister for finance should be taken with a very large grain of salt.

I would make this point: the exact same methodologies are employed to forecast wages and salaries in our budgets as occurred under the former government. Entities make forecasts on how much of their departmental budget will be spent on wages and salaries, and these entity forecasts are aggregated into the budget documents. I know that the shadow minister for finance wants a bit of spooky music to try to get some headlines, but the reality is the big black hole is the one Mr Dutton is presiding over, with his $600 billion black hole for the nuclear fantasy. (Time expired)