Labor has demanded the Morrison government come clean on how much taxpayers' money will be spent on advertising in the lead-up to the federal election.
Senior Labor frontbencher Penny Wong grilled Finance Minister Mathias Cormann on Monday after Prime Minister Scott Morrison opted not to announce when Australians would go to the polls at the weekend.
The government is able to continue using taxpayers' money to plug its policies until an election is called and the public service enters caretaker mode.
Senator Cormann completely rejected suggestions the election had been delayed, saying the government continued to operate as usual.
"I understand you are running this to get a grab on the evening news," Senator Cormann told Senator Wong during an estimates hearing in Canberra.
He said the finance department was responsible for government advertising and those officials would appear before estimates on Tuesday.
In a heated exchange, Senator Wong asked Senator Cormann to confirm or deny $600,000 a day was being spent to promote the government.
Senator Cormann said the government would continue to promote online safety for children, defence recruitment, incentives to employ apprentices and reducing electricity bills during the week.
"Just because there is an election around the corner doesn't mean that we now all of a sudden all have to go into conspiracy theories," he said.
The opposition claims the government spent $136 million on advertising and market research in the first three months of the year, based on AusTender data.
That's more than half of the record $254 million spent by the Howard government in one year in 2007.
But Senator Cormann said the figure represented the value of contracts awarded, rather than the amount spent on advertising.
"What you've just asserted has no bearing on what is being spent in that period," he said.
The finance minister said it was disingenuous to suggest contact notices reflected ad spending in the period leading up to the election.
Senator Cormann said the election was not due until the end of May as speculation over a date continues to swirl.
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