Shadow Treasurer Joe Hockey has once again confirmed that the Opposition is the party of trickery, promising tax cuts without telling Australians what cuts to services theyll make to fund them.
Today was an opportunity for Mr Hockey to outline how he would manage the budget, but instead he chose to keep Australians in the dark.
We have laid out our plans in the budget papers its the Opposition who want to trick Australians into believing theyll deliver policies they cant afford.
Mr Hockey is trying to take Australians for a ride; today he dangled tax cuts without providing any detail.
The Opposition already has a $70 billion budget black hole they cant explain and now Tony Abbott keeps adding promises without saying how theyll pay for them.
If Mr Hockey is committed to a surplus as he said in his speech today, then he needs to support every one of the Governments savings measures or at the very least tell Australians his alternative savings on top of the $70 billion in cuts to services the Opposition will make cover their budget shortfall.
Remarkably, Mr Hockeys speech contains a section entitled no new taxes, but failed to include one word about Mr Abbotts Paid Parental Leave Levy an actual increase to the company tax rate, in contrast to the Governments policy of cutting the company tax rate.
Mr Hockey also made no reference to yesterdays jobs figure which shows our economy is strong, and he continues to pretend the GFC and the instability in Europe didnt happen.
It is irresponsible of the Opposition to continue to talk down our economy for their own political games.
And Mr Hockey demands cuts to Government spending to deliver a surplus but then criticises the Government when we talk about the Efficiency Dividend which is about making agencies and Departments work more efficiently.
Its time for Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey to come clean with Australians about what cuts to services they plan to make to fill their $70 billion budget black hole.