Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

My question is to the minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Cormann. I refer to Mr Medcraft, chair of ASIC, who warned in 2014 that the Abbott-Turnbull government's $120 million cuts meant ASIC's 'proactive surveillance will substantially reduce across the sectors we regulate, and in some cases stop'. Minister, why did the Treasurer ignore this warning?

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

The Treasurer has not ignored any relevant warnings in relation to the resourcing of ASIC. As the senator well knows, there has been a Senate inquiry into the performance of ASIC, which was also followed by a capability review initiated by this government in July last year. As you would expect any responsible government to do, we review the resourcing arrangements for all agencies of government on a regular basis. As the senator would be aware, there is going to be a budget on 3 May, and I would expect that there will be relevant announcements in the context of the budget.

Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a supplementary question. I refer again to Mr Medcraft, who said in 2015: 'It's frankly quite clear that we're very thinly resourced across the board'. Does the minister agree that ASIC is thinly resourced as a result of this government's cuts?

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

I do not accept the premise that Senator Ketter has added to the final part of his question. This government and indeed previous governments—and, indeed, the previous Labor government—from time to time have applied efficiency dividends, which were applied not just to ASIC but across the board. As I have indicated in the lead-up to this budget—as we have done in the lead-up to previous budgets and budget updates—we are and have been reviewing the resourcing of all agencies of government to make sure it is appropriate and adequate for the functions that we want them to fulfil in the public interest, and that is what the government intends to do on this occasion.

Chris Ketter (Queensland, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Mr President, I ask a further supplementary question. Why did the Abbott-Turnbull government cut $120 million from ASIC, and why has it ignored repeated warnings about the consequences of its actions?

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

We inherited from the previous Labor government a budget position that was rapidly deteriorating on the back of unsustainable, unfunded and unaffordable spending promises made in the dying days of the previous Labor government. We did as the previous Labor government did, incidentally: in their dying days they increased the efficiency dividend that applied across government agencies. Obviously, the resourcing of government agencies is always under review, and relevant announcements will be made in the context of the budget.