Senator IAN CAMPBELL (11:30 AM) —I think Senator Sherry in some respects is asking for legal advice in relation to liability.

Senator Sherry —No.

Senator IAN CAMPBELL —In some respects one would have to look at that. It may be expenditure for fixing up a mistake that has been made as a result of a consultant giving poor advice, which I think is a real risk in many respects. It is for that reason I think you support my view that to seek guarantees about year 2000 compliance is not a very sensible strategy for anybody. As you have said very eloquently, you cannot give guarantees about this sort of thing. There may well be things that you just cannot find or fix, even if you are 99.9 per cent compliant. To seek a guarantee is not realistic at all.

The answer specifically is that, if they are fixing problems that have occurred because they have been given bad advice prior to New Year's Eve, that expenditure in terms of the work conducted is deductible. I have made that point.

Senator Sherry —No, you haven't.

Senator IAN CAMPBELL —It is deductible. If they have to replace assets or develop new software, then it will not be.