Lindsay Tanner (Melbourne, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

Firstly, I will quote as follows:

I am not aware of the specific advice that is supposed to have been given to us by the Reserve Bank governor, according to newspaper reports this morning. I am simply not aware of the basis of that.

That clearly refers to the report in the Australian alleging that the Reserve Bank governor had advised the government that its actions would destabilise and distort money markets. To the best of my knowledge, no such advice has been given. I will turn to the second part of the relevant section of the transcript. The question is:

Is—

for the advice of the opposition, that is in the present tense—

the government considering a $5 million cap on these deposits as reported today?

My answer was:

Not to my knowledge, and you should bear in mind that these are essentially matters for the Treasurer. I was—

past tense, for those in the opposition—

Acting Treasurer for the period when they were actually introduced, but typically when the Treasurer is in the saddle—

and I have not been Acting Treasurer for more than a week—

I don’t get directly involved in these matters on a day-to-day basis because they are his portfolio, not mine.

This answer referred to a question about what is happening now, not what was happening when I was Acting Treasurer a week ago. There is a gross misrepresentation in the statement of both the member for North Sydney and the Leader of the Opposition.

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