27 August 2007
John Howard today falsely claimed that Labor has committed to $4.6 billion
in new
spending and has not identified any Government spending that it would not proceed
with.
On 2 March 2007 and 8 August 2007 Labor announced savings totalling more than
$3 billion in Howard Government spending to fund its election commitments.
Labor’s savings initiatives show a commitment to fiscal discipline that
stands in sharp
contrast to Mr Howard and Mr Costello who have thus far not identified one
cent of
savings.
The Howard Government has not announced one savings initiative, but it has
announced more than $6 billion worth of commitments since the Budget.
The Howard Government’s claims on Labor’s spending have fallen
dramatically over
the past four months:
• On 17 April 2007 the Finance Minister claimed Labor’s commitments
totalled
$20.1 billion;
• By 8 August 2007 this had dropped to $14.2 billion; and
• Today the Prime Minister claims Labor’s spending totals $4.6 billion.
In the past four months Howard Government claims regarding Labor’s spending
have
miraculously fallen by over 400 per cent.
Federal Labor has committed to economically conservative policies that will
be directed
towards keeping interest rates as low as possible:
• We are committed to disciplined spending – we will run budget
surpluses on
average over the economic cycle;
• We are committed to the independence of the Reserve Bank and its inflation
target
framework; and
• We will implement policies to fight inflation by tackling skill labour
shortages and
infrastructure bottlenecks that push up business costs.
27 August 2007
