From The Australian:
“Every element of our national economic plan is driving jobs and growth right across Australia, and you’ve seen today the Labor Party produce a glossy brochure full of unfunded promises omitting any indication of how they can pay for the promises that they have made – omitting any defence of the way in which they are setting out new taxes that will restrain investment and slow employment.”
Asked if he would follow Labor’s lead and release detailed 10-year costings, Mr Turnbull said “all of our numbers” were contained in the May budget.
The PM went on to criticise Labor’s plan owing to the nasty risks that Europe and China presented to the Budget outlook which was a clear confession that his own revenue assumptions outlook is a pack of lies. But before I could copy it, the Coalition screeners at Holt St deleted the reference.
Update
Here’s what the Murdoch lackies did not want you to read:
PRIME MINISTER:
The reality is that forecasts – there are always risks with forecasts. I think everyone understand that. The further out you go, the more speculative those assumptions are. Let’s go back 10 years. 10 years ago, 2006, there wasn’t an iPhone. People didn’t have smartphones. Facebook was 1-year-old. It was a different world. A very very different world. It’s a long list. You can think of all the differences yourselves. Ten years hence is a long way out and that is why in the Budget we set out four years, that’s why we have a 4-year forward estimate, and we recognise that there are risks associated with that.
What will the iron ore price be? What will the foreign exchange rate be? What will be happening in the Chinese economy? What will be happening in Europe? These are all risks. Let’s not kid ourselves. There are plenty of economic risks on the horizon particularly in the global economy. There are risks in the things that we can’t control, but what I do know, what I know for sure is that we are best able to deal with those challenges if we have a strong and resilient economy, if we have a Government with strong economic leadership which understands business, which understands what makes business hum and is putting in place the policies that will encourage investment and employment.
The stronger and more resilient our economy is, the better we are able to deal with the unexpected and with changes that have not been anticipated. And of course there will be plenty of those. But for anyone to say that they know what the economy’s outcomes will be in 10 years’ time, we know that the best you can do is make a very long-term forecast or projection, there’s plenty of risk associated with it but a strong economy, a resilient economy, one that is backing the enterprise and the commitment of Australians, of thousands of Australian businesses. That’s the Government I lead, that’s the plan I lay out and that’s the plan that will deliver us the jobs and growth in the years ahead.
Too right, PM, so why did you base your Budget on imprudently happy forecasts?
