Liberal deputy Jane Hume has rebuked Treasurer Jim Chalmers for releasing hypothetical figures into what the budget would have looked like if Peter Dutton had won the last election.
The government released estimates on Sunday which claimed the budget would be $14 billion worse over the next two years if the Coalition had won in May.
“These figures show Angus Taylor has no credibility on the economy and that’s exactly why the Liberal Party is a complete bin fire,” Chalmers said, after Taylor took over the Coalition leadership on Friday.
“Angus Taylor and Jane Hume blew up their election campaign, they blew up their economic credibility, and these numbers show they would have blown the budget too.”
Angus Taylor and Jane Hume. Dominic Lorrimer
Hume said this morning Labor should focus on its own economic management.
“I love the fact that Jim Chalmers has spent so much time looking at numbers that don’t exist, that are entirely irrelevant, when he could be looking at his own,” she told Sky News.
“How about Jim Chalmers looks at 3.8 per cent increase in inflation … How about he looks at a trillion dollars in debt or deficits every single year for the next 10 years,” she said.
“He’s spending his time attacking Angus Taylor and attacking me with nonsense numbers that he’s just pulled out of a place where the sun doesn’t shine.”