This was published 8 years ago
Election 2016: Bill Shorten's 'spend-o-meter' comment explained
By Tom McIlroy
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It's the throwaway line that the Liberal Party hopes will cost Bill Shorten the election.
Speaking at a town hall event in Woy Woy on Friday night, the Opposition Leader told a standing room-only crowd that Labor would improve on a 2013 election commitment from the Liberal MP for the marginal seat of Robertson, Lucy Wicks.
Mr Shorten said fixing the Langford Drive - Woy Woy Road intersection in Kariong would require about $1 million, up from the Coalition's estimate of $675,000 three years ago.
"You can put that on the '-o-meter'. That's another million," Mr Shorten joked, winning cheers, laughter and applause from the friendly Labor crowd.
The comment came in response to a question from Kariong Progress Association member Murray Scott, who asked if Labor would match the Coalition's 2013 promise to fix the intersection.
The Australian newspaper is one of a number of media outlets tracking election commitments, with a daily "-o-meter" column in its print edition.
By the following morning, the line was being used to attack Mr Shorten and Labor's record on election promises and ing in government.
Liberal Party campaign headquarters sent video of the comment in a fundraising email just after 3pm on Saturday, asking supporters to chip in $15 to help the party stop Labor from racking up debt in government.
The video was posted online, threatening "more ing, more debt and more taxes" and with hashtag #sameoldlabor.
By Sunday, Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said only the Coalition could be trusted to take ing seriously in government.
"Bill Shorten yet again is putting some more hundreds of millions of dollars, nearly $1 billion on what he calls the -o-meter," he said while campaigning in Sydney.
"He thinks it's a joke. You saw him just the other night in the Central Coast laughing about more millions of dollars on the -o-meter. Well, we take government ing seriously. Government must live within its means.
Later, Finance Minister Mathias Cormann accused Mr Shorten of "getting quite cavalier" and putting commitments "on the -o-meter".
Mr Turnbull returned to the line during a visit to Merimbula on Monday.
"Australia don't take his jokes about the -o-meter as funny gestures. They know when they talk about the -o-meter, they're talking about their future and threatening their jobs and the growth of the economy," he said.
Both Mr Turnbull and Senator Cormann took up the line again in press conferences on Tuesday
In the third week of an eight week election campaign, the "-o-meter" doesn't appear to be going away any time soon.