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September 5th, 2013 
Peter Nolan
Updated
The long-awaited release of the Coalition’s costings has done little to dampen Labor warnings of deep spending cuts should Tony Abbott become prime minister.
Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey today released the final list of how the party would pay for its election promises.
Among the savings are a redirection of foreign aid spending, a slowing of water buybacks in the Murray-Darling Basin and more cuts to the public service.
Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has spent his campaign warning Coalition cuts would have dire consequences for Australians, and he is sticking to his guns.
He says if the Coalition has nothing to hide, it should release the complete workings of Parliamentary Budget Office, which costed the policies.
“It’s very plain that here we are, 24 hours before an election, and we have no comprehensive list at all of their massive cuts to jobs, health and education,” Mr Rudd told 7.30.
“In fact we have no detail at all as required under the Charter of Budget Honesty.
“They make this up as they go along because their objective is, once you get to polling day, for the entire country to be in the dark about where these cuts will hit them, their jobs, and frankly if they’re big enough, hit the overall health of the economy and risk the reality of a recession.”
The Coalition says its costings – which include total spending cuts of around $40 billion – add up.
Mr Hockey says the plan will improve the budget bottom line by $6 billion over the forward estimates.
That number is not as large as it may first seem: more than $1.5 trillion will flow through Treasury’s coffers over the next four years.
The Coalition has spent months arguing there is a “budget emergency” under Labor, and Mr Hockey says his costings are an appropriate response.
“We cannot present an alternative budget from Opposition. But what we’ve shown is that when you take into account all of our policies, together with all of our responsible savings, we’re going to leave the budget in a better state than that which we inherit,” he told 7.30.
“That means a $6 billion improvement to the budget bottom line, but also we’re going to pay own $16 billion of Labor’s debt.
“It’s not a huge change. But we’re turning the direction around from Labor, which is increasing debt and deficit, to ourselves who are starting to pay it off.”
Hockey pledges to grow the economy
The foreign aid budget will take a $4.5 billion hit, with the money to be used to fund road projects that Mr Hockey says will boost the economy.
He declined to say which countries could feel the aid pinch, saying he does not engage in “redesigning the foreign aid budget on the run”.
Another $650 million is saved by slowing spending on buying back water in the Murray-Darling Basin and public service cuts will boost the budget by about $500 million.
The costings do not include a projected deficit or surplus position, but it appears the Coalition will not return to surplus much faster than Labor.
Mr Hockey says the Coalition is focused on growing the economy.
“There’s no doubt the economy is stuck in third gear. We have got rising unemployment, and we’ve got a rising deficit and debt,” he said.
“What we’re saying is we’re going to reprioritise government expenditure to focus on building infrastructure, particularly roads, but also liberate families and small businesses by having tax cuts in place.”
But Mr Rudd says if voters want strong economic management, they should look to his record.
“We’ve had six years of sustained economic growth, we have unemployment at one of the lowest levels of the advanced economies in the world, we have interest rates at 60-year record lows,” he said.
“These are fundamental economic achievements which form the basis of our request to the Australian Government, a request by the Australian Government to the people for support of this upcoming election.”
Rudd warns of cuts to health and education
He says the Coalition’s plan to hold a commission of audit should it win government on Saturday is proof further cuts are on the way.
“We’ve had this extraordinary twist today when Mr Abbott said ‘look, health and education were off the agenda’,” the Prime Minister said.
“But then again when asked directly what his commission of audit, post-election if he wins, would do, he said everything is on the table, every portfolio.”
But Mr Hockey has repeated pledges to not cut funding to health and education.
“We have to target waste and duplication. We must do that. That is the only responsible way to go,” he told 7.30.
“We’re saying emphatically we’re not going to cut in the health budget, the education budget, the defence budget and health and medical research.
“But it doesn’t mean we can’t find waste in those programs and redirect it into frontline services. And that’s exactly what we want to do.
“The waste over the last few years has been horrific, horrific. And it’s someone else that pays the taxes that Kevin Rudd has wasted.”
Mr Hockey says he has been “entirely honest” with voters.
“Now we’ve laid down our cards on the table. We’ve got a recipe that delivers a stronger and more productive Australian economy,” he said.
Mr Rudd says he is “very relaxed” going into the election, saying voters have a clear choice on which to make up their minds.
“This is a contest between two sets of ideas, between two sets of plans for building Australia’s future,” he said.
“Ours [is] a positive plan, our opponents only seem to talk about cuts, cuts and more cuts.”
Topics:
federal-elections,
government-and-politics,
business-economics-and-finance,
budget,
federal-government,
australia
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Source Article from http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-09-05/rudd-takes-aim-at-coalition-costings/4939448
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