Senator SHERRY (Tasmania—Minister Assisting on Deregulation and Public Sector Superannuation, Minister for Small Business and Minister Assisting the Minister for Tourism) (14:10): As senators know, I have spoken about lost accounts quite frequently in this place and I am very pleased to announce that the Labor government— Senator Abetz: And lost policies! Senator SHERRY: This is one policy, Senator Abetz, that I certainly welcome because of the interest I have taken in it. Today we have $18.8 billion in lost accounts—$18.8 billion spread across 5.8 million accounts. Importantly, when figures were first published back in 1999, there were just 2.6 million accounts containing $3 billion. So we have seen an extraordinary increase in lost accounts, both the number and balance. What is disappointing for millions of Australians is that they never receive this money. So Labor is presenting a very important reform involving the use of TFNs, tax file numbers, and what is known as autoconsolidation. I would point out that those opposite were in government for almost 12 years and they did nothing about enabling Australians to find their lost accounts.