Federal election 2022: Labor will release costings in ‘usual way in usual time frame’, says Anthony Albanese

Anthony Albanese has on two separate occasions refused to say if Labor will have higher deficits over the forward estimates.

Labor Leader Anthony Albanese speaks to the media at a press conference at Bentley Hospital, which is in the Swan electorate, in Perth.

Anthony Albanese has on two separate occasions refused to say if Labor will have higher deficits over the forward estimates, instead claiming his party will be “fiscally responsible”.

Responding to reports Labor’s deficits will outstrip the Coalition’s by up to $10bn over the forward estimates, the Opposition Leader declined to say whether this would be the case when asked by The Australian, instead trying to reconfigure the question to be about “higher productivity” under Labor.

“We will have a fiscally responsible policy. You can’t say on the one hand that Labor isn’t announcing enough expenditure. And then on the other hand say that we’re not being fiscally responsible, because we are,” Mr Albanese said in Perth on Monday.

Mr Albanese said Labor had been releasing costings throughout the campaign, saying the proposition the party had not been was “quite frankly, absurd”.

Minutes later, Mr Albanese said Labor would put out their costings in “the usual way in the usual time frame”.

The Australian has previously reported Labor’s costings will show a modest increase in debt over the next four years on the back of election spending commitments on childcare, aged care, TAFE and health.

Mr Albanese claimed “everything we are investing in” was predicated on boosting productivity, before a journalist questioned how some Labor investments – including building BMX parks and painting murals on walls – fit into this line of thinking.

“Well, commitments that are about improving the quality of life for people are also things that happen during election campaigns,” he said. “If you don’t think that the arts community is worthy of any support, that’s not a view that I hold.”

Scott Morrison’s landmark housing policy, Mr Albanese argued, would contribute to higher deficits in the long-run, by stripping Australians of their retirement nest egg and forcing them onto the pension.