Prime Ministerial falsehoods this morning – claims made on Sunrise, Monday 19 August 2013

The Prime Minister told the following falsehoods on Sunrise this morning:* · “What I said is that our ads would be policy based.” Ø Mr Rudd has invented this ‘quote’ to cover his negative ads. Mr Rudd should state where and when he said it. · “$70 billion worth of cuts.” Ø Independent fact checking units have found that Mr Rudd’s claim is ‘not credible’ and ‘false’. · “The car industry in South Australia, gone.” Ø The Coalition has already committed to ongoing support for the auto industry. Mr Abbott has said that he wants the industry not just to survive but to prosper. We will also not proceed with Labor’s $1.8 billion FBT hit on cars. · “Mr Abbott says he’s going to cut thousands, tens of thousands of jobs.” Ø Our Plan will deliver one million new jobs in five years and two million new jobs in a decade. As part of Our Plan, we have committed to reduce the overall size of the Commonwealth public sector by 12,000 through natural attrition. · “The Better Schools Plan? Mr Abbott says he going to cut at least $8 billion out of that.” Ø The Coalition will match Labor dollar for dollar on education spending over the forward estimates. · “What about the future of the Fair Work Act, which he says he will change? It protects people’s penalty rates and overtime.” Ø The Coalition’s policy will keep and improve Labor’s Fair Work laws. Under our policy, no Australian worker will be worse off and businesses will be encouraged to grow. · “Our opponents are outspending us in this campaign in ads, 10 to 1 on negative ads.” Ø That claim is simply untrue. Mr Rudd should provide the evidence to prove his claim. As anyone watching television knows, Labor and the unions are running a heavily funded, aggressive negative campaign. Despite promising to end the old politics of negativity, Mr Rudd is running a relentlessly negative campaign based on false claims about his opponents. Ø Mr Rudd spent $57 million in government advertising in July and is still spending taxpayers money on government advertising during the election campaign. · “The problem with Mr Abbott’s [PPL] scheme is that he cannot fund it unless he cuts jobs, health and hospitals across the rest of the economy.” Ø The Coalition’s Paid Parental Leave scheme is fully costed and fully funded. Mr Abbott has made it clear that he does not intend to make cuts in those areas. 19 August 2013