A tortuous travail through a tangled web of tall tales.

The three stooges ABBOTT, HOCKEY, AND CORMAN: “Labor left a debt of $667 billion and deficits as far as the eye could see”

When the Abbott Government came to power in September 2013, the situation was:

$270 billion in Commonwealth securities on issue (gross debt).

Net debt in 2013-14 was estimated to be $184.0 billion (11.7 per cent of GDP).

An underlying cash deficit of $30.1 billion (1.9 per cent of GDP) was estimated for 2013-14 with a return to budget surplus in 2016-17.

SOCIAL DISSERVICE MINISTER KEVIN ANDREWS: “With the population ageing at the rate that it is, we’ve got to ensure in the future that we’re able to sustain the welfare system, otherwise we’ll find ourselves in 10 or 15 years’ time in the situation that some of the countries in Europe are in.”

Australia currently has the fourth-lowest level of public pension spending of any OECD country and is projected by 2050 to have the third-lowest level of pension spending.

OECD data shows Australia is “relatively low in terms of social security and around average in the terms of spending on health”.

In 2013 Australia’s public spending on the age pension was 3.5 per cent of GDP. Many European countries spend a significantly higher percentage on age pensions. Italy spends 15 per cent of GDP, France 14 per cent, Belgium 10 per cent, Sweden 8 per cent and the United Kingdom 6 per cent.

The 2010 Intergenerational Report says government spending on pensions and income support payments in 2009-10 was 6.9 per cent of GDP. It predicts that there will be minor fluctuations and it will still be 6.9 per cent in 2049-50.

The report says Australia is facing an increase in age-related spending by 2050, but more in health and aged care services than in welfare payments. Over the same period, spending on other welfare programs – unemployment benefits, widow pensions, parenting payments, carer payments and study allowances – is expected to fall.

MINISTER FOR STEALTH PETER DUTTON: “The threshold question is whether people want the health system of today strengthened for tomorrow, because at the moment the health system is heading to a point where it will become unmanageable.”

As a percentage of GDP, Australian government spending on health is the tenth lowest of the 33 countries in the OECD database and the lowest among wealthy countries.

The 8.3% of GDP spent by the US government, for instance, is higher than the 6.4% spent by the Commonwealth and state governments in Australia.

Australia’s total health expenditure, government plus private, is about 9.5% of GDP; the United States spends 17.7%.

The RAND Health Insurance Experiment showed that co-payments led to a minimal reduction in demand for services with the effect falling disproportionately on low-income groups.

ASSISTANT TO THE GRUB SUSSAN LEY: “Unlike Labor, the Coalition is genuinely committed to delivering better education opportunities and working conditions in the childcare and early learning sector.”

One of the first things the Abbott government did on taking office was to axe Labor’s $300 million fund to improve the quality of child care education. It also decided to fight a wage claim by child care sector workers in the Fair Work Commission.

The government plans to save nearly a billion dollars by freezing the thresholds at which child care rebates and benefits are paid. This means that as child care costs rise, government subsidies will stay at 2013 levels which will hurt lower-income families the most.

By 2016-17, industry group Early Childhood Australia estimates low- and middle-income families paying for child care will be thousands of dollars a year worse off.

TONY ‘CLIMATE CHANGE IS CRAP’ ABBOTT: “Just as the carbon tax is massively boosting power prices, the renewable energy targets are also having an impact on prices — not as great, but still not insignificant. We do need to do everything that is reasonably within our power … to bring power prices down.”

The federal government’s case to scrap or weaken the Renewable Energy Target (RET) has been dealt a blow, with modelling it commissioned for the review showing consumers will be better off if the target is kept.

ACIL Allen, the firm hired by the government’s handpicked panel reviewing the target, has presented preliminary figures showing household bills will be higher in the years to 2020 but after that they will start to fall and consumers will be better off by an average $56 a year from 2021 and $91 a year from 2030.

Extending the goal to sourcing 30 per cent of electricity from renewable sources by 2030 has even larger savings in the 2021-2030 period, averaging $109 a year, more than offsetting an initial $47 increase from 2015-2020.

The repeal case is the most expensive, and the one with the most renewables deployed – the RET target of 30 per cent by 2030 – ends ups being the cheapest for consumers.

TONY ‘WHO NEEDS SCIENCE’ ABBOTT: “It is only through sustained investment that we can retain our scientific talent, generate health discoveries and fully reap the benefits of health and medical research.”

Many CSIRO programs will be lost as a result of the $111 million in cuts and staff reductions of about 800, including research into neuroscience and colorectal cancer, water safety and advanced manufacturing.

The Government will reduce the Research Training Scheme (RTS) funding from 1 January 2016 and allow higher education providers to introduce student contributions for students undertaking higher degrees by research (HDR), including doctoral and masters degrees.

The Cooperative Research Centre (CRC) Program will be cut by $80 million over the forward estimates.

Savings of $1 billion over five years from 2013‑14 are expected to be achieved from ceasing ten existing skills and training programmes.

To be fair, Tony occasionally gets it right, even if his timing is slightly out:

“We have to choose a new government: a new government with a positive plan to restore the hope, reward and opportunity that should be your birth right”.

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