TREASURER Wayne Swan admits the ALP "haven't always pulled the right rein" in an appeal to voters to forget mistakes and trust his financial management.

The coming election will be a referendum between preserving the notion of "a fair go" and what Mr Swan called the Coalition's "heartless philosophy of mindless austerity".

The Treasurer's confession of policy mistakes in an article for the Chifley Institute came with pledge the coming Budget would put jobs and growth first.

"I know the Labor Party isn't exactly the flavour of the month at the moment and we haven't always pulled the right rein every single time over the last few years," the Treasurer wrote in the article out today.

"Every Government gets things right and some wrong.

"But whatever people think about this Labor Government, they know it gets the big economic calls right - even when that comes at a political cost.

"No country in the world has made better decisions over the past five years than ours, and the dividends of that can be seen in low unemployment, contained inflation, and low interest rates."

Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has rejected the tag of being a fan of austerity economics, despite deep cuts in a range of spending areas. But Mr Abbott has said the Government's problem is excessive spending, not a drop in revenue.

Mr Swan argues spending is being cut but that the fall in mineral prices and the pressure the high Australian dollar puts on exporters has limited taxes earned from profits.

He said in the article Australia was approaching a decisive point in history which could determine the fate of the "fair go" philosophy.

"And as conservatives argue for billions of dollars to be ripped out of the economy, risking recession and jobless queues kilometres long, we will never apologise for putting jobs and growth first," he wrote.

"We reject the heartless philosophy of mindless austerity. This great ideal of protecting the living standards of all people is as much an enduring Australian value as it is a core Labor philosophy."

Mr Swan said the September 14 election would be "a referendum on the fair go" and that it was "obvious which side of the fairness debate each party is on".

And he rejected the Opposition's charge he was cultivating class warfare.

"You have to question the motives of some who define universal access to a world-class education as akin to some kind of class warfare as some have in recent weeks," wrote Mr Swan.

"It's a sad day for Australia when a political party chooses to frame a debate about better education like this."

