Federal Treasurer, Wayne Swan, has claimed that the performance of Joe Hockey in the recent National Press Club debate on the Australian economy all but confirms that the Coalition is not up to the task of managing the nation's finances.
Mr Swan seized on what he believed were three serious gaffes by his counterpart. The first gaffe, according to the Treasurer, related to the Coalition's estimates of their own election promises.
"Mr Abbott and Mr Hockey cannot even agree on how much they are spending and they cannot say how or when they will return the budget to surplus", Mr Swan claimed.
The Treasurer pointed out that on the same day there was a $7 billion difference between figures quoted by Mr Abbott and those quoted by Mr Hockey.
"This is a very serious error that creates very serious doubts about their judgement and their ability to manage the Australian economy".
Mr Swan also believed that Mr Hockey had been caught out on 'his own dishonest debt campaign' when the Shadow Treasurer admitted that Australia’s budget position is “the envy of the developed world”.
"He (Mr Hockey) went further, acknowledging that faced with the onslaught from the global recession, the Coalition “would have had, obviously, a deficit", Mr Swan commented.
The Treasurer also highlighted a third embarrassing gaffe by Mr Hockey.
"In an attempt to assert that interest rates were lower under the Coalition, Mr Hockey, reading from his own fact sheet, admitted that rates were actually higher under them".
Mr Swan asserted that the performance of Mr Hockey, and his leader, were further proof that the Coalition 'lacked judgement' when it came to managing the Australian economy.
Libs just hate the fact that Australia never entered a recession and that 200,000 jobs were saved.
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