The $9.2 billion worth of backdowns, taken together with Labor's decision to promise about $800 million in additional aid funding - far less than the $19.2 billion the government claimed Labor would spend - have smashed the $67 billion "black hole" Mr Morrison claimed on Tuesday. And even as he pressed the opposition to fully account for the cost of their policies, Mr Morrison initially ducked questions on how the government will offset the cost of its $555 million farm package. The Treasurer pointed out that as recently as one day ago, Labor still had a petition on its own website calling for the Schoolkids Bonus to be restored but that had now "vanished". Even more awkwardly, a page attacking the government's pension assets test changes was still online on Thursday morning - after the ALP policy reverse. "They said in relation to the Schoolkids Bonus and the change to the assets test for the pension, drop your unfair cuts or take them to an election," Mr Morrison said.

"It's clear now, with the statements made by Chris Bowen this morning, [they were] forced into that position because of the statements we made earlier this week, that Labor are not going to honour that pledge that they made in just March of this year [to restore the Schoolkids Bonus]." But Mr Morrison would not repeat his $67 billion black hole claim, arguing "it's not a question of whether there's a black hole when it comes to Labor's unfunded spending, it's just a question of how big it is". "I said it was up to $67 billion [on Monday]. I'm not making an estimate now other than to say it's up to $67 billion," he said. The debate over Labor costings comes ahead of Friday's National Press Club debate between Mr Morrison and Mr Bowen. Mr Bowen said the opposition had backed down on the Schoolkids Bonus because "we've now had the pre-election economic forecast. We know the triple A credit rating is under threat. So we are taking a very responsible approach with our policies. Families will be better off under Labor, but we will not be able to afford to bring back the Schoolkids Bonus," he said.