Swan 'King of Coward's Castle'

21/10/10

Wayne Swan today again demonstrated that he is a Treasurer prepared to tell outright lies to hide his inability to engage in mature economic debate.

Shadow Minister for Finance Andrew Robb said Mr Swan had repeatedly and deliberately misrepresented his comments in Parliament this week in relation to our record high currency exchange rate.

“Wayne Swan has repeatedly lied by firstly claiming that I have called for a direct government intervention into our floating exchange rate and secondly for the Australian dollar to be fixed.

“Both these claims are completely and utterly false and Wayne Swan knows it. What I have called for is for the Treasurer to rein in Labor’s reckless spending and borrowing which would take some pressure off interest rates and the exchange rate.”

In a piece which appeared in The Australian on 15 October, 2010, which highlighted the need for a mini-budget to rein in Labor’s profligate spending Mr Robb wrote:

"Tellingly, the Gillard government has been silent on the effect and causes of the 12 per cent rise in the Australian dollar against the U.S dollar in the past six weeks.

“The Coalition is not suggesting that Australia moves away from, or intervenes in, our market based exchange rate. But there are policy actions that can help if there is political will.”

Mr Robb said sadly Mr Swan was lacking in both courage and political will and instead resorts to untruths in a bid to discredit the Opposition.

 “Mr Swan is truly the ‘king of coward’s castle’, using the cover of Parliament to tell complete and utter lies to disguise his own inadequacies.”