Costello ignored inflation warnings: Swan

Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has stepped-up his attack on the Opposition’s economic credibility, ahead of next week’s Budget.

It has been revealed that six months before last year’s Budget, Treasury warned former treasurer Peter Costello to curb spending, or risk fuelling inflation.

Mr Swan says that advice fell on deaf ears and it now falls to the new Government to deal with that legacy.

“These documents prove conclusively that Peter Costello ignored warnings,” he said.

The Treasury warning has been released in response to a Freedom of Information (FOI) request by Channel Nine.

An ABC request last week on the impact of Labor’s workplace laws was blocked by Treasury. Opposition treasury spokesman Malcolm Turnbull is calling that double standards and has defended the Opposition’s record.

“Treasury said that the surplus should be 1 per cent of GDP. Peter Costello took that advice,” he said.

He says Mr Swan is being misleading by not releasing the requested Labor documents, but the Treasurer says FOI requests are controlled by bureaucrats, not ministers.