01-February-2012
Portfolio Media Releases
No amount of sugar coating by Julia Gillard today can mask how truly dreadful Labor's economic management has been against the most important benchmark - Australian standards.
"Our hapless prime minister will be out today ‘gilding the lily’, telling us how much better off we are than the basket case economies of Europe, that we are the envy of the world," Shadow Finance Minister Andrew Robb said.
“Unlike Europe we are blessed with a mining boom, which is clearly being wasted and the economic resilience inherited by this government has been squandered.
"What we won't hear are the damning numbers in Labor’s own budget papers that reveal the shameful Australian records that Labor owns in debt and deficit. Nor will Ms Gillard talk about the blow outs in government spending since 2007 that expose the nonsense about fiscal consolidation,” Mr Robb said.
- Labor has delivered the four biggest budget deficits in Australian history with a cumulative total of $167 billion.
- Labor’s structural budget deficit is double that of Germany’s on a percentage of GDP basis and 30 per cent worse than Italy’s.
- Labor has racked up the highest levels of net debt in Australian history at $133 billion, dwarfing Keating's previous record of $96 billion.
- Labor has increased total government borrowing by more than 250 per cent since 2007-08.
- Labor's annual interest bill alone on its debt is around $7 billion, the equivalent of seven world class hospitals.
- Labor has blown out total government annual spending by $90 billion or 30 per cent since 2007-08.
“By Australian standards this government is without peer when it comes to spending, borrowing and waste, but you won't hear the prime minister admit to that today,” Mr Robb said.