Govt accused of raiding Future Fund

The Federal Opposition has accused the Government of preparing to raid the Future Fund to help its prospects at the next election.

The opposition spokesman on Financial Services, Senator Mathias Cormann, has drawn on answers to questions during Senate Estimates to point to what he describes as a "secret plan" to raid the Future Fund.

He said the answers, provided by the head of the Department of Finance, David Tune, reference the "expected sale of assets from the Future Fund".

Cormann described the reference to the expected asset sale as "extraordinary" in circumstances where the Government is not supposed to withdraw funds from the Future Fund.

"The Future Fund was set up by the Coalition back in 2005 to fully fund the Government's unfunded public service superannuation liability by 2020," he said. "It is supposed to continue to grow until the unfunded superannuation liability is completely under control."

Cormann said under rules governing the Future Fund, withdrawals could only happen once the superannuation liability, as determined by an independent actuary, had been fully offset on or after 1 July, 2020.

The senator claimed the Government had been very secretive about its plans to withdraw funds from the Future Fund, and its decision to then allocate the revenue against its Budget bottom line in 2012/13.

He said the Government needed to come clean and explain its intentions.

"If the plan really is to return the funds to the Future Fund at a later date, the Government must confirm when that is expected to be and where that information is contained in the Budget papers," Cormann said.

He claimed the Government had reached "a new low in fiscal recklessness", combined "with a complete lack of openness and transparency about significant budget matters".