"Given the last few years, I don't think the success or failure of a prime minister should be based on the number of media appearances they make," the Treasurer said. Tony Abbott, posing yesterday for pictures with yacht owner Anthony Bell, was again too busy to answer questions from reporters. Credit:Anthony Johnson When asked what Mr Abbott was doing, Mr Hockey replied: "Well, he's ringing up his Treasurer every day. We've spent all day Monday in cabinet meetings ... I can tell you he's been flat out. "As prime minister you've got to run the country with your cabinet and that's what we're all doing. We've got our heads down and we're going through all the challenges." Canberra press veteran Laurie Oakes yesterday said Mr Abbott and his government was "thumbing its nose at voters" through a lack of transparency and communication.

ACCC running short On Wednesday, Mr Hockey announced the new government's plans to deal with 96 unlegislated tax and superannuation measures, which revealed the Coalition has blown a $3 billion hole in the budget. When he hit the airwaves on Thursday morning to discuss budget situation, he also revealed that the consumer watchdog would run out of money next year if it did not get an emergency injection of government's funds. "The ACCC has been making a loss for the last four years," he told Fairfax Radio. "In this financial year, the ACCC runs out of money in April."

Mr Hockey said that for the consumer watchdog to continue to do its job, it had asked for more than $100 million. The Treasurer explained that he would see what savings could be made at the ACCC but expressed surprise it was in such a dire state. "How can you allow an entity to keep running at a loss for years?" Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen dismissed Mr Hockey's criticism on Thursday, saying the ACCC's annual report was out every year for people to see. "Different government agencies from time to time require top-ups. They stay open, they do their jobs and a top-up is arranged through the Department of Treasurer and the Department of Finance," he told ABC Radio.

"For Joe Hockey to invent this as some sort of crisis with his normal huff and puff and bluster just says more about his interest in politics rather than his interest in government." Electricity costs The ACCC revelation comes after business lobby groups and energy companies have warned that it could take some time to pass on price cuts if the carbon tax is abolished from July 1 next year. The Australian Industry Group has called for ACCC understanding over any failures by business to drop prices once the carbon tax is stripped out. The peak employer body warned that many of the costs of the carbon tax had not been passed on to consumers, meaning its repeal might not produce the reductions in electricity and other prices promised by the Abbott government.

Mr Hockey is standing by the government's guarantee that Australians will pay less for gas and electricity when the carbon tax is repealed, despite warnings from energy companies that prices would not drop immediately. On Wednesday, he told ABC's 7.30 that the ACCC would be given "all the power and resources it needs to ensure that all of those parties comply with the changes in the law". Business lobby groups and energy companies including AGL have warned that it could take some time to pass on price cuts if the carbon tax is abolished from July 1 next year. Loading Environment Minister Greg Hunt insisted on Thursday that electricity bills should drop "immediately" after the carbon tax was repealed.

With Mark Kenny, AAP