E&OE...
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Labor's dishonest double game with the Australian public is on display again.
Labor's shadow treasurer Wayne Swan - who would manage Australia's one trillion dollar economy in a Kevin Rudd-Union Government - attacked the Coalition for its post-Budget expenditure when appearing on the ABC Insiders program.
While Mr Swan fails to acknowledge that Labor's own post-Budget commitments exceed $4.6 billion, the weekend attack raises an obvious question.
If Mr Rudd has now decided to oppose the Government's commitments, which of them will be axed if Labor wins Government?
The Government has, for example, set aside $1.8 billion for disability support services, $627 million for climate change programs, $629 million for new drugs to deal with macular degeneration and just over half a billion dollars for the national indigenous emergency.
There have been outlays on important water projects, school chaplaincy services and even money for the Red Cross Blood Bank.
Will one or all of these important initiatives be axed?
Mr Rudd and Labor cannot simply attack the Government's initiatives without setting out which programs would be cut.
The reality is that Mr Rudd and Mr Swan would not dismantle any of these initiatives.
They would have the Australian public believe they oppose the aggregate of the Government's spending, but this is a cynical deception because they have offered specific support for the individual programs.
If Kevin Rudd and Labor believe they are ready to govern they should take the Australian people into their confidence and start telling the truth about their policies and positions.
The Australian people deserve nothing less.
Listen to this Speech (MP3 - 1.91Mb - 100secs)