Paying the price
Labor has now put out its costings and says Peter Dutton should do the same. It's just one more challenge for the opposition as it seeks to turn things around before election day.
With less than a week to go until election day, the Labor campaign has ramped up its campaign on two fronts. The first is directly challenging Peter Dutton on his spending plans.
“[Dutton] should come clean and release the Coalition’s final costings,” Treasurer Jim Chalmers said on Monday, criticising the opposition for “secret costs and savage cuts”.
While it’s the sort of comment that Dutton can usually shrug off, Chalmers and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher had just upped the ante by unveiling $6.4 billion worth of savings over the next four years, plus an extra $760 million in revenues. They also shared their expectations with the public that the underlying cash balance would improve by $1 billion over the forwards compared to the pre-election outlook, even when including their election promises.
By offering up their own calculations for public scrutiny just days ahead of the vote, they were able to quickly turn the focus back onto the opposition and give themselves scope to more stridently criticise Dutton for not being transparent. It also gives the Labor campaign room to continue its 'Mediscare' approach to the opposition’s spending plans, regardless of what the Coalition says it is actually planning on health.
