Tony Abbotts repeated claim to have $50 billion in savings has today been shown to be entirely false.
Treasury and Finance have already found a $10.6 billion black hole in the Liberal Partys $49.4 billion in election savings.
Today a report in the Australian Financial Review shows that billions of dollars of these savings have been further eroded over time and are now completely out of date.
The Coalition cant put forward last years costings for this years debate.
It is sloppy work from an economic team that seems more focused on internal positioning for economic portfolios rather than economic policy.
The Oppositions savings were fully committed to Liberal Party election policies during the 2010 campaign. This further erosion of savings means the Opposition is spending billions more than it is saving.
This fiscal recklessness would lead to further price pressures, at a time when we need to be returning the budget to surplus.
The Gillard Government has a clear plan to return the budget to surplus in 2012-13.
The Opposition can either back the savings measures in the budget or be upfront with the Australian people about the fact that they would be in deficit over the forward estimates.
The Opposition cannot keep falling back on their $50 billion in savings when this figure has been exposed as false. If they continue to claim $50 billion in savings, they will be knowingly misleading the Australian people.