Opposition challenges government to release costings to Auditor-General
The Victorian Liberal Nationals Coalition has called on the Treasurer John Lenders to agree to the Auditor-General conducting an independent review of both Labor and Coalition election policy costings.
Shadow Treasurer Kim Wells has written to Mr Lenders repeating the challenge he gave to Mr Lenders on ABC’s Stateline program on Friday, to which the government has failed to respond.
Under the proposed arrangements, both parties would submit their costings to the Auditor-General for independent review and the Auditor-General would report publicly prior to the election on whether each party’s policies are affordable within the budget forward estimates.
“Throughout this campaign, Labor has repeatedly refused to have its election policy costings independently scrutinised,” Mr Wells said.
“Instead, Labor is having its policy costings reviewed in-house by the same public service which Labor has previously used to develop and write those policies.
“Victorians can have no confidence in Labor using the same costing processes that have already seen the cost of myki blow out by $850 million, smart meters by $1.45 billion and the desalination plant by $2.6 billion,” Mr Wells said.
Shadow Minister for Finance Robert Clark said the system of Treasury review that Labor has tried to unilaterally introduce in Victoria was the same system that had failed in Canberra and which all parties, including Federal Labor, had agreed to scrap and replace with an independent Parliamentary Budget Office.
“In contrast to Labor, the Coalition has made clear all along that we are willing to have our policy costings independently reviewed,” Mr Clark said.
“If Labor accepts the challenge we have given them in writing today, Victorians will have available an expert and independent report on which to make judgements about whether or not parties’ election promises are affordable.
“If Labor does not accept our proposal, Victorians can only conclude that Labor is not willing to have its policies independently reviewed, and does not wish to be accountable for the dishonest claims John Brumby and his ministers have been making about the Coalition’s policies,” Mr Clark said.