Mr SWAN (Lilley—Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer) (14:45): I thank the shadow Treasurer for his question. Here they go again, attacking the Treasury and attacking Treasury officials. We have seen it for weeks and weeks and weeks. They go out there and attack Treasury officials because that is going to be their smokescreen for their failure to put forward any detailed, costed policy for the future. Now when the Secretary of the Treasury went out last week, he ripped away the last remaining fig leaf from the shadow Treasurer and made it very clear that the forecasts that are in the budget are the forecasts of our professional advisers, the same people who advised those opposite when they were in government. And this question is simply at piece with their continued attack on the professionalism of the Treasury because they have never forgiven the Department of the Treasury and the department of finance for blowing the whistle on their $11 billion hole after the last election. All that this is about is sour grapes, but it is something much more than that— Mr Pyne: On a point of order, Madam Speaker, the Treasurer was asked about his groundbreaking new straight-line methodology for estimates forecasts of the budget. He says to stop attacking the Treasury, but he is obsessed with— The SPEAKER: The Manager of Opposition Business will resume his seat. The Treasurer has the call and will return to the question before the chair. Mr SWAN: This is an out-and-out attack on the Treasury, on the professional advice that they provide to the government, because they will not put forward costed policies as we go through to the next election because they know if the Australian people know what they are going to do no-one would ever vote for them. And that is what this is all about: hiding very big cuts which will go right to the bone and trying to get through an election campaign without detailing in a costed way their policies. They now have a secure bottom line. There is nothing to stop those opposite, if they think the government is spending too much, to detail how much they will cost. There is nothing to stop it right now from walking into this House and doing that in the context of these figures which— The SPEAKER: The Treasurer will be relevant to the question. Mr SWAN: It is very clear what sort of agenda we are dealing with here. It is an agenda to attack the Treasury and its professional officials. The fact is the shadow Treasurer is referring to projections in the forward estimates, and it is entirely professional for the Treasury to do it that way.