As Labor continues to pressure the Coalition to release costings detailing how it would pay for its promises before the September 7 election, Mr Hockey told reporters in Tasmania that voters would see the opposition's budget plans before polling day. Loading Replay Replay video Play video Play video ''If the whole election's going to be about costings rather than about policies like we're announcing today, then I think everyone is going to bore the Australian people to death and we don't want to do that,'' said the man who will be in charge of the nation's costings if the Coalition is elected. Mr Hockey was with Opposition Leader Tony Abbott in Launceston on Thursday to announce the Coalition's plans to boost the Tasmanian economy. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott and shadow treasurer Joe Hockey have rejected findings of a $4 billion hole in the Coalition's climate policy. Credit:Alex Ellinghausen

''We want [voters] to be excited about the policy initiatives, but believe me, all of our policies and all of the costings and the ways we're going to pay for it, all of it is going to be out there, verified, and in net terms, provided to the Australian people before polling day,'' Mr Hockey said. The debate over costings intensified this week after the release of the Pre-Election Economic and Fiscal Outlook by the Finance and Treasury departments on Tuesday. Assistant Treasurer David Bradbury said it was time for the Coalition to outline what it plans to cut from the budget, when he was interviewed on Sky News on Thursday. ''These are not going to be surgical, measured, targeted cuts,'' he said. ''This is going to be something that resembles the Texas Chainsaw Massacre.'' Labor is continuing to claim that the Coalition needs to make $70 billion worth of cuts to pay for its ''unfunded promises''. Last week, PolitiFact found Labor's claim of a $70 billion black hole for the Coalition was false.

During a press conference in Launceston on Thursday, Mr Abbott also dismissed a report that found that the Coalition's Direct Action policy required an extra $4 billion in order to meet emissions reduction targets. ''The Climate Institute is obviously entitled to put forward its position but I simply don't accept that report,'' he said. ''[Climate action spokesman] Greg Hunt has looked at it. Greg Hunt is absolutely confident, as I am, that we can purchase sufficient emissions reductions from the funding envelope that we have made available." Mr Abbott also said if the nation was ''fair dinkum'' about getting its emissions down it had to be done in Australia. ''The interesting thing about the government's carbon tax measure is that it doesn't on their own forecasting actually reduce domestic emissions,'' he said.

Mr Abbott said the government's 5 per cent reduction by 2020 depended on buying $3.5 billion worth of carbon credits. ''It's very different under us, it's an incentive-based scheme but we are confident the money we have set aside will purchase the emissions reductions we need.'' Loading With AAP