The federal opposition has accused the coalition of "cooking the books" by implementing a budget measure Labor flagged in government.
Opposition Senate leader Penny Wong made the accusation in a heated exchange with Finance Minister Mathias Cormann during an estimates hearing in Canberra on Monday.
Senator Wong, a former finance minister, argued the government's decision to include earnings from the Future Fund from 2020/21 inflated the budget outlook.
But Senator Cormann cited the 2012/13 mid-year budget review that she and former treasurer Wayne Swan brought down.
It noted that from 2020, the Future Fund would become available to meet the government's public sector superannuation liabilities.
"At this time, earnings will be available to meet the government's recurrent superannuation spending and both costs and earnings will be included in the underlying cash balance," the review said.
That revelation led to Senator Cormann calling on Senator Wong to do the honourable thing and apologise for her "outrageous accusation".
"If there was cooking of the books, she was the cook."
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