Shadow assistant treasurer Mathias Cormann has dismissed comments from Treasury head Martin Parkinson that his department does not tailor numbers to the government, arguing "you wouldn't expect him to say anything else".
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On Wednesday, Senator Cormann said he did not believe that Treasury would have independently come up with the carbon and mining tax revenue forecasts, which had to be significantly revised down in last week's federal budget.
"I don't believe for one minute that the Treasury left to its own devices would have come up with some of the unbelievable assumptions that Wayne Swan and Penny Wong have based their budget figures on," Senator Cormann told ABC Radio.
In a speech on Tuesday, Dr Parkinson hit back at recent Coalition suggestions that the Treasury has become politicised under the Labor government.
"Let me be very clear. Treasury does not provide the government with a range of numbers. Treasury provides its best professional estimate to the government. It is up to the government of the day - and this applies back through history - to do what it wishes with those forecasts," Dr Parkinson said.
"I can say on behalf of David Tune, the secretary of the Department of Finance and myself - and get this right - were PEFO [the Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook] to have been released on the 14th of May, it would have contained the numbers that were in the budget."
The Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook is an independent report released by the secretaries of Treasury and Finance within 10 days of the issue of the writ for the election.
Senator Cormann dismissed these remarks, saying: "You wouldn't expect [Dr Parkinson] to say anything else. His job as secretary of the Treasury until the election period is to serve the government of the day, and of course in that capacity he has to stand behind the figures."
The West Australian senator said that Dr Parkinson provided his advice to the government of the day "privately and behind doors. Once these sorts of figures are published, of course you would expect the secretary of Treasury to defend them publicly."
This comes as shadow treasurer Joe Hockey prepares to address the National Press Club in Canberra on Wednesday on the Coalition's budget plans.
In the wake of last week's budget, Mr Hockey criticised Treasury figures but blamed Treasurer Wayne Swan.
"I think the problem is Wayne Swan, because if you look at the numbers, for example the growth figure for next year, there's nothing conservative about it."
Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury said that Senator Cormann had made an "outrageous slur on the integrity" of Dr Parkinson.
"Senator Cormann has effectively accused Treasury Secretary Martin Parkinson of being complicit in an act of deception," he said in a statement on Wednesday.
Mr Swan said on Thursday that there had been a ''despicable attempt by the Liberals to sully the reputation of the Treasury''.
The Treasurer said the Coalition was ''reflecting'' on what were professional forecasts because they did not want to reveal the costings of their policies.
He called on Mr Hockey to detail all the costings in his National Press Club speech, saying there were ''no excuses left''.
On Wednesday, Tony Abbott appeared to back Mr Parkinson, the Opposition Leader saying his argument was with the government.
"I have always accepted the professionalism of the Treasury. I think the Treasury are a highly professional department. I respect the senior officers of the Treasury," Mr Abbott told reporters in Brisbane.
He said he had never had an argument with the Treasury or Dr Parkinson. "My argument has been with the Treasurer and the government," he said.
This is not the first time Treasury has had to defend itself against allegations it was not providing frank and fearless advice.
Last year, Dr Parkinson denied Coalition claims his department was politicised when it provided a critical analysis of Coalition tax policies, which Labor later released to embarrass the opposition.
