hockey’s spending boosts deficit to $45bn, page-11

to say that article is biased is to state the obvious,even down to Joe's photo and the comment
"The Coalition’s strategy is to blame the previous Labor government for the large number in the MYEFO."
beggars belief

Joe's response..
“Every cupboard I open has spiders in it; that’s what’s happened at the moment,’’ he said.

december 2012
When the Government delivered the Mid-Year Fiscal and Economic Outlook (MYEFO) in October, it forecast a budget surplus of $1.1 billion for the full year 2012-13.
Mr Swan has declined to speculate on the magnitude of any deficit.
"At the end of the day, I don't care about the political outcomes, I care about the economic outcomes," he said.
october 2012


Hon Scott Ryan
Last year, Mr Swan promised no less than 500 times that he would deliver a budget surplus this year.
Joe Hockey called Labor on it years ago – "this Labor Government and Wayne Swan will never deliver a budget surplus"

And tonight we saw Joe proved right. This marks Mr Swan’s fifth straight budget deficit.
We knew it was coming; Wayne Swan has form. The last few weeks have been full of Labor’s excuses.

Looking through the six budgets Wayne Swan has delivered, there is an eerie similarity with the promises and, sadly, the results.

In his 2008 Budget speech Wayne Swan said “We
are budgeting for a surplus of $21.7 billion in 2008-09, 1.8 per cent of GDP,the largest budget surplus as a share of GDP in nearly a decade”.

The result was a deficit of $27 billion.

In 2009 Wayne Swan claimed that a major aim of the 2009 budget was to bring it back to surplus and pay down debt in the medium term.

The result was a deficit of $55 billion.

It wasn’t third time lucky for Australia or Wayne Swan in 2010: “Our strategy will see us return to surplus in three years, three years ahead of schedule. The budget deficit of
$40.8 billion for 2010-11 is almost $6 billion less than the forecast at MYEFO and $16 billion less than expected one year ago,” he said.


The result was a deficit of $48 billion.

In 2011 Wayne Swan said the budget would be back in the black by 2012-13. He went on to add that the alternative – meandering back to surplus – would compound the pressures in our economy and push up the cost of living for
pensioners and working people.

The result was a deficit of $44 billion.

Of course, this time last year, Wayne Swan attempted to fool everyone again –
yet he only managed to fool himself:  “The four years of surpluses I announce tonight are a powerful endorsement.

This Budget delivers a surplus this coming year, on time, as promised, and surpluses each year after that, strengthening over time.”
Yet tonight Wayne Swan announced an expected budget deficit of $19 billion for the current financial year.

In the coming financial year, this is expected to be a
deficit of $18 billion and in the following 2014-15 year another $11 billion.

but theres more....

Shadow Finance Minister Andrew Robb said that in her first speech as Finance Minister an unequivocal Senator Wong said “the return to surplus is not negotiable”.

Yet, today on ABC’s Insiders program she refused to guarantee that Labor would honour this promise which is the central tenet of the government’s dubious economic strategy.

Wayne Swan alone has declared on at least 150 occasions that the government will deliver a surplus in 2012-13, “come hell or high water” he said, while Julia Gillard said of honouring the commitment that “failure is not an option