The Australian Greens will side with Labor to stymie a plan to increase the debt ceiling by $200b. Source: AAP
FEDERAL Treasurer Joe Hockey insists Labor's own figures and advice show the government debt ceiling needs to be above $400 billion.
Mr Hockey is due to introduce the legislation into parliament on Wednesday to lift the government debt ceiling from $300 billion to $500 billion, and he wants it passed by the lower house by the end of the day.
But Labor says it will only agree to a limit of $400 billion because the coalition has yet to properly explain why there needs to be such a large increase.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen asked Mr Hockey during the first question time under the new parliament whether government debt would be higher or lower at the end of this term of government than it was at the September 7 election.
Mr Hockey said Mr Bowen's own economic statement, that he released as treasurer just before the election campaign, showed that the current $300 billion limit would be reached in December and peak at $370 billion in 2015/16.
Add to that, the former Labor treasurer Wayne Swan had previously been advised by the Australian Office of Financial Management that there needs to be a buffer of $40 billion to $60 billion above the expected peak.
"That does not equal 400 (billion), it is actually far more than 400," Mr Hockey said.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott has accused Labor of trying to bring on a US-style debt crisis.
"Labor has left us with a shocking legacy of debt," he told the Seven Network, warning there would be a breach of the $300 billion cap next month unless the ceiling was increased.
"Now it seems that Bill Shorten and his cohorts want to act like the Tea Party in Washington and bring on some kind of crisis for our country."
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten rejected Mr Abbott's Tea Party analogy, saying Labor was a party of compromise and negotiation.
"We're reasonable, but we're not patsies," he told ABC radio.
He said Hansard shows that on a number of occasions Mr Abbott's team did not support previous increases in the debt ceiling.
Not so, said Mr Abbott.
"While we always opposed the policy of debt and deficit, when I was the leader, we never voted against it in the parliament," Mr Abbott told parliament.
Australian Greens leader Christine Milne, who intends to back Labor's $400 billion limit, says when the coalition was in opposition it demanded Labor justify the case for increasing the cap.
"Now they are saying to the Australian people that they want to increase the debt ceiling by $200 billion and they haven't made the case," she told ABC radio.
Mr Abbott said the government was dealing with a mountain of debt which Labor "left as their legacy".
"We want to rule a line under this embarrassing period of fiscal history and get on with the job of paying back Labor's debt and eliminating Labor's deficit," he said.
Anda sedang membaca artikel tentang
Labor's data show ceiling inadequate: govt
Dengan url
http://laptoptua.blogspot.com/2013/11/labors-data-show-ceiling-inadequate-govt.html
Anda boleh menyebar luaskannya atau mengcopy paste-nya
Labor's data show ceiling inadequate: govt
namun jangan lupa untuk meletakkan link
Labor's data show ceiling inadequate: govt
sebagai sumbernya
0 komentar:
Posting Komentar