Senator MARK BISHOP —My question is to Senator Ellison, the Minister representing the Minister for Finance and Administration. Can the minister confirm that forward year expenditure projections were traditionally provided in the budget papers for all government functions and subfunctions? Can the minister also confirm that, on 26 April, the shadow minister for finance was provided with mock-ups of Budget Paper No. 1 which explicitly set out the same information on an accrual basis and that the shadow minister was explicitly advised by the minister's office that this forward year information would be provided in this year's budget papers? Can the minister therefore explain why none of this specific program information was included anywhere in the budget papers?

Senator ELLISON (Special Minister of State) —This arises, of course, from a claim by the member for Melbourne that key information contained in the mock-up of the new budget format was excluded from budget papers. This really highlights how desperate the opposition is in relation to attacking this budget. This budget provides the Australian people with the most transparent set of accounts ever produced by a federal government. The comments of the member for Melbourne are out of step with media commentators who have praised the government's move to an accrual budget, something which, as I said earlier, the opposition spoke about but never introduced. The budget papers, both Budget Paper No. 2 and all portfolio budget statements, provide details for the budget year and the forward estimates for every budget measure, both increases and decreases. There is no issue in this at all.

Senator MARK BISHOP —Madam President, I ask a supplementary question. There is a serious issue here, Minister: the non-disclosure of program information. So I ask you: does the absence of this specific program information from the budget papers explain why the Treasurer overruled Minister Fahey's decision to allow department of finance officials to brief the opposition during the budget lock-up on the accrual accounting consequences of the budget?

Senator Faulkner —Remember that you are representing finance here.

Senator ELLISON (Special Minister of State) —I would remind Senator Faulkner that this is a finance matter and I am representing the minister for finance. In case he did not know, we have moved to an accrual based budget; we are looking at outcomes and we have moved to an outcomes presentation. Forward years down to output level were not included in portfolio budget statements but could be included in future years. There was a straightforward approach to the way this was handled. The shadow minister for finance, as with others, was in the lock-up. This form of accounting is a much better form than we had previously. The opposition wanted it but never got around to introducing it. Now that we have done it, they are trying to attack it.