Labor's shadow finance minister, Tony Burke, seized on the error, claiming the Treasurer and Finance minister Mathias Cormann had attempted to treat Australians "like fools" and that "they know the information theyare giving the Australian people is wrong. And they intend to give it anyway." Treasurer Scott Morrison has been advised to stick to his day job and not be an amateur YouTube director by Bill Shorten. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen Mr Morrison and Mr Cormann had initially claimed the "black hole" included all opposition spending commitments, blocked measures and spending that Labor wanted to restore "When you put all these measures together you get to $67 billion," Mr Morrison said, adding it "extrapolates out to almost $200 billion" over 10 years. The contested $35 billion comprises spending cuts made by government, which Labor has disagreed with - and which the government says amounts to money that Labor will spend. Therefore, it must be accounted for and funded.

The government, as part of its plan to ensure economic management stays front and centre in the election, has been hammering Bill Shorten for a throwaway line over the weekend about adding a million dollars to a "spend-o-meter". But its mistake on Tuesday was to include in the contested $35 billion the assertion that Labor would restore $19.27 billion in cuts to foreign aid, based on a July 2015 interview by shadow foreign minister Tanya Plibersek. But Ms Plibersek announced $224 million for foreign aid over the weekend, taking Labor's final foreign aid commitment to just $800 million over four years - leaving an $18.47 billion black hole in the Coalition's own "black hole" claim. And the government's $35 billion estimate contains other mistakes, including a $1 billion typo on Labor's school funding promise, a potential $10 billion error on superannuation policies and a $200 million mistake over funding for the Ipswich Motorway in Queensland, which the Coalition has itself committed to. Mr Morrison dismissed a suggestion there was a "black hole in your black hole" but then walked back claims all $35 billion should be counted.

"Not at all. These are measures that Labor have said they oppose. Until they say they support them, it's for Labor to clarify. Worst case there is $67 billion, best case is a $32 billion black hole," he said. By the end of a lengthy press conference, Mr Morrison was forced to concede "the $35 billion, we are quite open about the fact is up for discussion and we would like the Labor Party to clarify what's in that $35 billion". The government document estimates Labor will raise $16.29 billion from announced revenue measures and savings but set against that, it accurately counts $18.15 billion in savings and revenue measures blocked by Labor in the Senate and $30.4 billion in Labor spending promises to date. That delivered what Mr Morrison called a "hard promises" figure of $30 billion. Mr Burke said the government had "invented policies Labor hadn't announced".

"By the end of the media conference, instead of holding to the figures they were saying: 'Oh well, maybe the figures are somewhere between $67 billion and $32 billion'," he said. "We've made clear that over the medium term, there will be more improvements to the budget bottom line than spends." Follow James Massola on Facebook. Follow us on Twitter