Cormann, Sen Mathias

Senator CORMANN (Western Australia—Minister for Finance, Vice-President of the Executive Council and Leader of the Government in the Senate) (14:59): It is appropriate for the Prime Minister to do so. As I've indicated, Services Australia makes $180 billion in payments a year. We received advice at the time the program was put together that it was lawful, and indeed many governments have used ATO averaging data over many years—Labor and Liberal. Indeed, Ms Plibersek, Mr Shorten and Mr Bowen have previously indicated that it is appropriate to seek to recover debts. But it should be done in a lawful fashion. As I indicated yesterday, of course it should not have happened in a way that was unlawful. The PRESIDENT: Senator Wong, a supplementary question.