The prime minister has painted a much more positive picture of this week’s intergenerational report than his own treasurer, saying that it would show Australia faced a “big challenge” but also that a “substantial start” had been made by the coalition’s first budget.
Joe Hockey said recently the same document would cause Australians to “fall off their chairs” because despite the government’s efforts “we still don’t get anywhere near being able to reduce spending over the medium-term to the same level that exists today”.
Abbott also said the document would include a comparison of what the budget would have looked like under the former Labor government’s policies and how it stands under the current government’s policies – something previous intergenerational reports have not done.
“The Intergenerational Report will show where we would have been under the policies of the former government, where this government is attempting to go and how far we have already gone,” Abbott said Sunday.
Abbott is widely expected to confirm that the GP copayment – already shelved by his health minister, Sussan Ley – will not be revived, and the government’s higher education reforms are also stalled in the senate.
Hockey has insisted that without policies from last year’s budget – including the higher education changes and the GP co-payment – the budget will “never return to surplus”.
But Abbott urged the country to take a more optimistic view of its long term finances.
“What the Intergenerational Report will show is that, yes, we have a big budgetary challenge – a very big budgetary challenge – but a very substantial start has been made ... I guess the challenge for all of us in these times is to show our typical Australian optimism and, yes, we can look at it and say the glass is half empty, I would always prefer to look at it and say the glass is half full because I am really pleased with the very strong start that this Government has made to sorting out the budgetary mess that we were left by our predecessors,” he said.
The intergenerational report will be released Thursday.
