Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Finance and Deregulation) (14:00): I am extremely pleased to take that question from Senator Cormann because it gives me an opportunity to explain to the chamber just how wrong he is and to invite him to correct the record, given that he has been out on the radio and on television making assertions which are simply untrue. Senator Cormann has asserted in relation to the Future Fund that the government is raiding the Future Fund—that the government is withdrawing funds from the Future Fund. He is wrong. He is utterly and completely wrong, and he ought to know better. Senator Cormann: Mr President, a point of order on the requirement under the standing orders for the minister to be directly relevant to the question: there was a very specific question and the answer is a number. The secretary of the finance department has confirmed that the revenue in 2012-13 will include revenue from the sale of assets from the Future Fund. The question is: how much of that $4.937 billion will come from proceeds from the sale of Future Fund assets? It is a number; there was no political rhetoric in the question. All we have been getting from the minister is political rhetoric, yet again. Senator Chris Evans: Mr President, on the point of order: not only is the minister directly relevant but she is directly answering the claims made by Senator Cormann both in his question and in the media today. Quite frankly, to waste minutes of question time taking points of order which then go to a long explanation of his argument is clearly a waste of the Senate's time. Clearly, there is no point of order. The PRESIDENT: There is no point of order. I believe the minister is answering the question. The minister has one minute and 13 seconds remaining to continue the answer. Senator WONG: Thank you, Mr President. I again say the government is not making withdrawals from the Future Fund. What is occurring is the Future Fund is making a change to the type of assets it holds. The timing of the sale of assets is a matter for the Future Fund, and what the budget papers reflect is the assets the Future Fund plans to hold going forward. This is an important point. The next point I wish to make—and I have put a press release out, which I assume Senator Cormann has read, but I will again say it in the chamber and perhaps he will understand it this time—is that any funds raised from the sale of non-financial assets will be kept by the fund, not by government. In other words, governments cannot spend these funds. In fact, were the government to spend these funds out of the Future Fund, under the terms of the legislation which established the Future Fund we would have to change that legislation. The government has no plans and no intention to do so. I am very happy to have a discussion about federal finances. It is a pity the opposition are so busy throwing things at the government that they cannot even look at their $70 billion black hole.