Senator WONG (South Australia—Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate and Minister for Finance and Deregulation) (14:36): I do want to be very clear with the chamber on this issue, as I was when I was acting Treasurer and some information was released publicly. This was not a discretionary decision made by government; this was a decision of the tax office and a matter on which Treasury provided advice and Treasury considered. Whilst I know that for political reasons the opposition wish to make an issue of this, I think there is a separate issue here, which is the operation of Australia ' s tax laws. These are not discretionary decisions of ministers, and nor should they be. They are decisions which are properly made by the Australian Taxation Office and properly considered by the Treasury. Having said that— Senator Fifield: Mr President, I rise on a point of order on relevance. My specific question to the minister was: ' Can you confirm that there is indeed an exemption currently which allows the minister to release information about an individual taxpayer or entity where the public interest outweighs any privacy considerations? ' Senator Jacinta Collins: Mr President, on the point of order: I clearly recall Senator Wong saying in response to the first question that she did not think that the Senate was the appropriate place to go into detailed legal debates on interpretation of different provisions in law. Beyond that issue, she has outlined quite a range of relevant information and described the process that Treasury and the tax office have been through. She is attempting, as far as is relevant, to address the question raised. The PRESIDENT: I am very conscious of the standing orders in respect of the giving of legal opinion in this place. I am listening closely to the minister ' s answer. I believe the minister is answering the question. The minister does have 16 seconds remaining, though, to answer the question. Senator WONG: I was actually attempting to be helpful, but obviously I am not going to get into a legal argument. The point I was making is that the government has not made a decision on this. This decision has been made by those who administer the tax laws.