Page 6 - 2016 Election: Mid-Campaign Report

What we’ve learned:

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The facts. So far this campaign, Labor
is outspending the Coalition
more than 10 to 1.
Labor is still blocking
$18 billion of Budget savings.

Put that on the On 20 May, Mr Shorten was caught on camera telling
a crowd of Labor supporters: “You can put that on
SPEND the spend-o-meter, that’s another million.”
This comment was symbolic of Labor’s dismissive
-o-METER! attitude toward Budget discipline.
On the same day, Treasury and Finance published
6 their pre-election outlook, calculating the “net
impact of all unlegislated policy decisions” (i.e. what
Labor is blocking in the Senate) at $18 billion.
By the start of the campaign, Labor had only
identified $16 billion in budget improvements
(including $14 billion of higher taxes and $2 billion
in savings).
This means the cost of Labor’s blocked measures
is greater than all of Labor’s proposed savings. In
other words, Labor is $2 billion behind, before they
even start.
Despite the fact Labor would have no money to
spend on anything new, they have promised to
restore billions of savings banked by the Coalition
and have made billions in new promises.
In the first four weeks of the election campaign,
Labor has announced (according to their own
figures) $12.7 billion worth of new spending
commitments. By comparison, the Coalition
has announced less than $1 billion of new
commitments.

Four weeks out from the election, Labor
has a massive black hole. Mr Shorten has a
responsibility to explain how it will be paid for.

Mid-campaign Report