Tony Abbott quiet on budget cuts as leaders prepare for first televised debate

Updated

The row over policy costings and the budget bottom line is running hot between the major parties ahead of tonight's debate, with Tony Abbott resisting Labor pressure to reveal where the Coalition plans to make more cuts.

After finishing Sydney's City2Surf run, Mr Abbott held a press conference at Bondi beach with local member - and former leader - Malcolm Turnbull, joking he was "buoyed" during the race by seeing campaign posters of the MP.

The Opposition Leader will travel to Canberra this afternoon to prepare for the debate against Prime Minister Kevin Rudd at the National Press Club, broadcast on ABC1 and ABC News 24 from 6:30pm (AEST).

The economy is set to dominate the exchange and set the tone for the second week of the campaign, a tone which will intensify on Tuesday with the release of Treasury's Pre-election Economic and Fiscal Outlook (PEFO).

The Prime Minister said he had prepared for the debate by spending the morning with his family and going to church.

"I sought a bit of divine solace this morning," he said laughing.

Mr Rudd also revealed that Labor Party elder, Senator John Faulkner, had travelled with him yesterday to work through debate tactics.

The Prime Minister will use the debate to point to the Opposition's costings and its refusal to say when it will deliver a budget surplus.

"I would say to Mr Abbott it's absolutely fundamental that you stop being evasive about where your $70 billion worth of cuts to jobs, education and health will fall," he said, campaigning in the south-eastern NSW seat of Eden-Monaro, a bellwether electorate based around the city of Queanbeyan.

"This is not an unreasonable question."

Mr Rudd also said he would push the Opposition Leader on his plans regarding the GST - continuing Labor's argument that the Coalition will increase the tax if it wins office.

There's $17 billion of saves to fund $17 billion of spends and that's all out there on the public record. You will see more saves announced as this campaign goes on. Opposition Leader Tony Abbott

Mr Abbott says "the only party that will raise taxes after the election is the Labor Party", though there is no indication the ALP will do so either.

And this morning Mr Abbott stayed firm on what figures the Coalition would make public.

"Well before polling day every Australian will know exactly what we are spending and exactly what we are saving," he said.

"They'll know exactly how the fiscal position will be different under the Coalition, but overall the budget bottom line will always be stronger under the Coalition.

"And I've got to say to Mr Rudd too, I am not going to take lectures from a government which has got all of its figures wrong.

"It's never got a figure right. It hasn't released any of its own costings and so far this government has given us the five biggest budget deficits in Australia's history."

The Coalition has announced $17 billion in savings so far and Mr Abbott says he will reveal more cuts in coming week.

"There's $17 billion of saves to fund $17 billion of spends and that's all out there on the public record," he said.

"You will see more saves announced as this campaign goes on."

The Opposition has previously described the ALP's assertion that the Coalition will make $70 billion in cuts as "dishonest".

Coalition decline to promise budget surplus

Throughout the campaign, the Coalition has said that it will release the costs of its policies and its cuts and savings, but has stated that it will not release an expected budget bottom line, because it doesn't "trust" the Treasury figures used by the Government as a starting point.

Shadow assistant treasurer Mathias Cormann repeated on Sky TV this morning that "we can only vouch for our numbers; we can't vouch for Labor's numbers" and dodged questions about whether the Opposition would commit to deliver a surplus in a particular year.

As recently as January, both Mr Abbott and his shadow treasurer, Joe Hockey, had promised to deliver a surplus in its first year in office and every year following in the first term of a Coalition government.

The government was forced to dump its commitment to deliver a surplus this financial year in December, citing massive revenue writedowns.

Rudd forced to dump candidates

Yesterday, Labor's election campaign was hit with the loss of two candidates in one day, just a week into the campaign.

Mr Rudd was forced to dump the Labor candidate for the safe Victorian seat of Hotham, Geoff Lake, over his failure to disclose a verbal altercation with a colleague 11 years ago.

Meanwhile, Labor's charge for the north Queensland seat of Kennedy, Ken Robertson, has stood aside over comments he made about Mr Abbott.

Last night Mr Rudd issued a statement saying he had requested the party's national executive remove Mr Lake as the endorsed candidate for Hotham.

Mr Lake, a Monash councillor, last month won a bitterly fought preselection to contest the seat being vacated by long-serving Labor frontbencher Simon Crean.

But Mr Lake lost the Prime Minister's confidence after he was forced to apologise for verbally abusing a fellow councillor during an argument at a Monash Council meeting 11 years ago.

In a statement released today, Mr Lake said he regretted making the "inappropriate and hurtful" comments.

"I was 22 years old. I apologised for those comments at the time of the incident. I regretted making the comments then and continue to regret it now," he said.

"In the heat of a federal election campaign, the ALP has determined that the incident means I can no longer contest the election.

"I accept that decision. I categorically deny any other rumour or allegation of wrongdoing."

Meanwhile, Mr Robertson released a short statement yesterday saying he had decided not to contest the September 7 poll after he reportedly accused Mr Abbott of being racist.

"I apologise to Mr Abbott for my statement yesterday. While in far-north Queensland we like to use colourful language, my comments were unacceptable," he said.

"I have today stood aside as the Labor candidate for Kennedy in the interests of ensuring that this matter does not distract from Labor's campaign for a fairer Australia."

Treasurer Chris Bowen has told ABC TV's Insiders that replacements will be found "quickly".

"We always prefer rank-and-file ballots, but when you're in an election campaign it's very justified for the national executive to make a decision and make a decision quickly and I expect that's what they'll do," he said.

Topics: federal-elections, government-and-politics, federal-government, elections, alp, liberals, australia

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