Nick Sherry (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Assistant Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

It is not the government that carries out these sorts of forecasts and projections; it is the Treasury that prepares them on behalf of the government. I have great confidence in the capability and skills of the Treasury officials in their preparation of budget figures. In fact to that extent, in terms of calculating debt levels—and I might make the point that it is certainly not acknowledged by the current opposition—the level of gross government debt when the opposition was defeated was $58 billion. There was a level of gross debt left to this Labor government and it is not commonly understood or acknowledged. They are the same Treasury officials who have provided forecasts for years. (Time expired)