The Treasurers’ debate on ABC’s 7.30 last night was a much more sane affair (not having to factcheck the moderator was a giant improvement) and we have Greg Jericho and Matt Grudnoff going over the claims for you to bring you any clangers.

One of the reasons it was better was because Jim Chalmers was actually able to answer some of the guff Angus Taylor was spilling out.

At the last debate (hosted by Sky) Taylor could just say ‘this is really important’ and then say whatever he wanted for the next three minutes without being pulled up. (it was never important) At least here, Chalmers was given equal time.

Taylor: The deficit has gone up substantially over the last 12 months. Labor inherited monthly surpluses after we came out of COVID, and the truth of the matter is that they’ve taken the budget off a cliff. Now we’ve opposed over $100 billion of Labor spending since Labor came to power, a whole range of initiatives that we think are not appropriate at this time and we will deliver a stronger budget bottom line than Labor’s.  
 
Q: Have you taken the budget off a cliff?  
 
Chalmers:

Of course not. I mean what Angus has just said then, respectfully, was rubbish.  
 
You can look in the Budget papers, you compare the pre-election outlook from the election in 2022 to the progress that we’ve made together as Australians ever since then, and the budget is substantially stronger.  
 
And the reason that’s so important is because this is an uncertain world, and our efforts to help people with the cost of living and strengthen incomes make our economy more resilient.  
 
That couldn’t be more important. There’s always a premium on responsible and stable economic management, but particularly now. The alternative is a coalition of cuts and chaos, which will make Australians worse off and make Australia more vulnerable at a time when there’s all this volatility in the global economy.