According to Treasury the Coalition counted the interest to be saved on debt from selling Medibank Private, but not the dividends it would lose as a result of the sale. It is a bit like deciding to sell a rental property without noticing you will no longer be able to collect the rent.
Also inexcusable was double-counting savings to be made by increasing the efficiency dividend, effectively double-counting savings already factored into the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme. This means measuring the wrong time period when calculating money to be made from the parental leave levy, and failing to update its savings from abandoning the National Broadband Network to reflect the smaller amount actually spent. All up they are worth $2.7 billion.
The inexplicable:
The Coalition announced spending from the Health and Hospitals Fund, the Education Investment Fund, the Building Australia Fund and the Nation Building Fund without apparently checking that there was enough free money in the funds. Treasury and Finance have examined what had already been allocated and found that adding on the Coalition's promises would more than empty the funds, pushing them $3.3 billion into the red. The departments acknowledge that it may be possible to cancel or defer projects to make room for the $3.3 billion but says the Coalition provided no such details.
Adds up to:
| Phoney Tony | Rubbery Robb | Sloppy Joe |
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