CLANGER: The Liberals can't agree among themselves whether jobs will be created under a future Coalition Government.
'If we can do what we have pledged to the Australian people that we will strive to deliver – and I am so confident that we can – we will deliver a million new jobs over five years, two million new jobs over a decade."
(Tony Abbott – Speech – 27 November 2012)
"Indeed, already some of the important and difficult yards of economic reform have been ceded in recent years by leaders who claim that governments create jobs"
(Jamie Briggs – AFR – 27 November 2012)
FACT: Since Labor has come to office, around 800,000 jobs have been created in Australia and unemployment remains low. How can Tony Abbott say he has a target when he doesn't even have a policy? It's absolutely laughable hearing Tony Abbott pledge job growth when his Shadow Treasurer has announced a $70 billion budget crater and the only jobs strategy he has articulated has been the slashing of jobs by Campbell Newman and Barry O'Farrell.
CLANGER: "This Government wants people to think that its tax to GDP ratio is lower than previous Governments, but it is a claim that is both misleading and ignores reality."
(Joe Hockey – Speech to the Institute of Chartered Accountants – 23 November 2012)
FACT: Mr Hockey is the one who is ignoring reality – when the Liberals were last in office the tax-to-GDP ratio was 23.7 per cent. Under the Gillard Government the tax-to-GDP ratio is now 22.1 per cent in 2012-13. Tax as a proportion of GDP is now lower than it was at any time under the Howard Government.
If Australians had kept paying tax at the same rate they were in the last year under the Liberal Party they would be paying an extra $24 billion in tax in 2012-13.
We have had four rounds of personal income tax cuts worth $47 billion and we've given small business a $1 billion a year tax break.
And Joe Hockey didn't even have the guts to talk about his plans to whack business with a $17 billion tax grab.
CLANGER: "the third clear set of commitments that we stand for that are out there, that are obvious is we will boost participation."
(Tony Abbott – Speech to West Australian Leadership Matters Breakfast – 22 November 2012)
FACT: Tony Abbott and the Liberals will reverse the tripling of the tax-free threshold, which would slug part-time working mothers trying to return to the work force.
Mr Abbott has also refused to support the continuation of the Child Care Benefit and 50 per cent Child Care Tax Rebate, meaning that Australian families looking to go back to work could be hit up for higher child care fees under an Abbott-led Coalition.
CLANGER: Labor was taking Australia down "the Irish road, economically".
(Christopher Pyne – 19 November 2012)
FACT: Between 2008 and 2011 real GDP in Ireland declined by 4.8 per cent. By comparison, the Australian economy is 11 per cent larger since we came to office, despite the Global Financial crisis, with net debt peaking at around one‑tenth that of the major advanced economies and an iunemployment rate significantly below other advanced economies. Just last week, our economy was again given the tick of approval from the IMF as the stand out global performer.
These desperate claims from the Coalition just continue to show they are policy lightweights and have served up their weakest economic team in a generation.