Kevin Rudd said Australia’s government debt per head of population is one of the lowest in the developed world. With only New Zealand and South Korea below us, it’s hard to fault him. That doesn’t mean the government has no questions to answer on why its debt projections have been consistently wrong. But even as it struggles with revenue shortfalls, it can still credibly argue that our debt is comparatively low... howard $20,000,000,000 surplus, to rudd $300,000,000,000 debt, come on, financial CRISIS or not "THIS SHOULD NOT HAVE HAPPENED, BUSSINESS IS EASY, GOV IS BIG BUSSINESS" Wayne Swan has, once again, been caught red-handed. This morning Treasury confirmed that Wayne Swan will break his own $300 billion debt cap. The Treasury says the expected peak of Commonwealth Government Securities on issue - subject to the cap – will be a massive $340 billion. The Treasury also revealed that gross debt will be $290 billion by Christmas this year, just $10 billion short of the current cap. Only three weeks ago Wayne Swan assured the House: “The answer to that is it is not necessary to do anything about the debt cap at all.” (Wayne Swan, Hansard, 15 May 2013) Given the Treasurer can’t get a single Budget number right – and the Treasurer’s recent Budget showed a $20 billion blow-out in the space of only 6 months – Australians cannot be confident that Wayne Swan won’t exceed the debt cap even before the end of this year. To provide certainty for all Australians, the Treasurer should take responsibility for this debt blow-out and immediately come into the House and introduce legislation to increase the debt cap. The Government has already increased the debt limit on four occasions, firstly to $75 billion, then $200 billion, then $250 billion and then $300 billion. Just two weeks after the 2012 Budget Wayne Swan told the House that: “We would be at the end of each year within the $250 billion cap.” (Wayne Swan, Hansard, 21 May 2012) Wayne Swan’s continued dishonesty and incompetence is evidence of a Government that can’t be trusted to manage the Budget or the economy.
Posted on: Thu, 05 Sep 2013 05:28:36 +0000
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