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Australian voters shouldn't expect"fistful of dollars" election campaign: PM

Xinhua, January 29, 2016 Adjust font size:

Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull announced on Friday that this year's federal election would be held between August and October but warned that his election campaign would not be full of reckless financial promises.

Speaking on Melbourne radio on Friday, Turnbull said he would not be running a "fistful of dollars" campaign because the economy was in a parlous position, and Australian taxpayers expected him to be responsible with his spending promises.

Turnbull took time out to criticize Opposition leader Bill Shorten for his 36 billion Australian dollars plan for education reform, a policy announced on Wednesday. The prime minister labeled such an expensive election promise as "reckless".

"This is not going to be a fistful of dollars election campaign--from us, anyway," Turnbull told radio 3AW on Friday.

"It will certainly be a tight budget. These are tight financial times and Australians expect me as prime minister to manage the budget responsibly to get the most bang for the taxpayers' buck, to manage the government efficiently, and to seek to do so with the least tax burden on them so that they can keep more of what they make in their business, in their job, from their savings,"

Turnbull was speaking in the wake of Treasury secretary John Fraser's speech on Thursday night in which he urged spending restraint if Australia is to maintain it's triple A credit rating.

"I know it's self-evident, but it's important that Australia maintain its top credit rating which helps contain the costs associated with servicing public debt," Fraser said.

"We should not be complacent about this. I know from personal experience during the financial crisis how important a strong crisis how important a strong credit rating is to investor confidence."

Turnbull went on to say Australians should expect an election between August and October, quashing speculation that he could call for an early election to make the most of his substantial lead in the polls.

According to the latest Newspoll, a polling service administered by Galaxy Research, Turnbull leads Shorten as preferred prime minister by 43 percentage points. Endit