A Coalition attack yesterday on Labor’s spending commitments has backfired after Treasurer Scott Morrison admitted that the Coalitions estimated $67 billion Labor Budget ‘black hole’ had an error of $18 billion that could grow to $35 billion.
The Guardian summarises the shenanigans:
In a bid to distract from Labor’s rigorous and numerous “positive policies”, the government has zeroed in on their expense, costing – one assumes generously – every one to reach a total of $66bn.
It’s a somewhat rubbery total because we don’t know what assumptions went into reaching it. Asked how much of that $66bn was the price tag attached to the party’s “aspirational statements”, official campaign spokesman Mathias Cormann said it took in spending that Labor had called for “in one way or another”.
Malcolm Turnbull later refused to show reporters the Coalition’s working (“I don’t think you want to see them”) but said the total was ac-tu-ally $67bn.
Treasurer Scott Morrison later cleared it up with a chart – sort of.
“Worst-case scenario is $67bn, best case is a $32bn black hole,” he said. Well, a margin of error of $35bn seems reasonable.
And here’s more from Laura Tingle at The AFR:
Scott Morrison and Mathias Cormann came out with a stupendous list of spending promises by Labor on Tuesday – the sort you usually bring out when things are getting really desperate in an election campaign.
But by the end of the press conference to announce this list, after being challenged on the numbers, the Treasurer was having to concede that “Bill Shorten’s $66.87 billion great big budget black hole” might be just a teensy bit smaller.
“The worst case,” he conceded, was that it was a “$67 billion black hole, the best case, a $32 billion black hole”.
So only a matter of $35 billion of the Coalition’s figures in contention, it seems.
Needless to say, this is actually Labor’s fault, according to Morrison and Cormann.
All the Coalition was trying to do was be helpful. It just wants Labor to tell the truth.
According to Fairfax, the disputed $35 billion relates to spending cuts made by the Government which Labor disagrees with, which the Coalition assumes it will spend. But it assumes that Labor would fully restore the $19.27 billion of foreign aid cuts implemented by the Coalition, which is wrong because Labor has only announced $800 million over four years, thus leaving an $18 billion-plus hole in the Coalition’s costings.
There are other mistakes, too, including a $1 billion error in Labor’s schools policy, a potential $10 billion error on its superannuation policy, along with some smaller amounts.
As expected, Labor hit back noting that the Coalition’s $48 billion in company tax cuts were completely unfunded:
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen said the government was putting about a “fantasy”, and that Labor was not about to take “any pious lectures” when the company tax cuts at the centre of government’s budget were “completely and totally unfunded”.
Tony Burke suggested this path forward: “During the campaign, Liberal policies will be announced by the Liberal party, Labor policies will be announced by the Labor party.”
Time and time again this election campaign, the Coalition has fired shots only to then find itself on the defensive and looking utterly incompetent.
