Labor MP uses budget reply speech to accuse the treasurer of using agency for political gainThe shadow treasurer, Chris Bowen, says Scott Morrison is politicising the Treasury and is intent on turning the prestigious commonwealth agency into a “political battering ram”. Bowen used the opportunity afforded by a budget reply speech at the National Press Club to declare on Wednesday that Morrison was using the treasury as “a crutch to support government policies”. “There is a pattern of this treasurer commissioning treasury work, releasing it selectively to some journalists and not releasing the full work for full proper scrutiny,” Bowen said in response to questions after his speech. Morrison later acknowledged the figures were not from new PBO modelling but were an extrapolation from work conducted in the previous year. Bowen said the conduct amounted to “a politicisation of the treasury, which is not on”.

Source: The Guardian May 16, 2018 07:30 UTC