Labor urged to reveal economic snapshot

The coalition has accused the Rudd government of failing to provide families with
the economic information they need to weather the growing financial storm.
It is upping pressure on the government to release a current snapshot of the state
of the economy to help the community make informed decisions about how the fallout
from the global financial crisis will affect households.
Australians have been warned economic growth will slow and unemployment will rise as
a consequence of the turmoil on global credit and financial markets which has wormed
its way into the real economy.
The government has released a $10.4 billion stimulus package, giving handouts to
families and pensioners in the lead-up to Christmas in order to encourage spending
and underpin the economy.
However, it won't release the economic advice on which it based its policies or
bring forward its mid-year economic outlook, due out next month.
Opposition treasury spokeswoman Julie Bishop told Sky News that individuals and
businesses needed more thorough data on which to base their future plans.
"For example, the government is encouraging people to go into debt through the first
home owners fund, yet they're refusing to say what job losses are going to occur in
the next 12 months and in what areas," Ms Bishop said.
She said people needed the information the government had about job losses and where
the economy was headed so that they could make personal decisions about going into
debt.
"Now if (Prime Minister) Kevin Rudd were really involved in crisis management he
would provide that information to the Australian public."
While offering bipartisan support for the rescue package, the opposition has
continued to question the detail, a strategy which has prompted the government to
claim it's being disingenuous.
"Last week, in an exercise in small-b bipartisanship, they support the package," Mr
Rudd told parliament.
"Ever since then what we've had ... (various members) trying to un-pick it - un-pick
it, undermine it, in an attempt to walk both sides of the street."
Opposition leader Malcolm Turnbull accused Mr Rudd of evoking the imagery of war and
terrorism in his language about the financial crisis to try to evade scrutiny.
"There may be a global financial crisis but we haven't suspended democracy," Mr
Turnbull told ABC radio.
Mr Rudd has likened the economic troubles to a rolling national security crisis and
has consistently used the language of a war-time leader when explaining the
situation to the community.
But his handling of the situation is impressing voters.
The latest Nielsen poll, published in Fairfax newspapers, shows 76 per cent support
Mr Rudd's handling of the crisis and 76 per cent support the economic package.
Mr Rudd's personal approval rating has shot up 10 percentage points to 71 per cent -
his highest rating ever.
It puts him second only to Bob Hawke as the nation's most popular prime minister in
the 36-year history of the poll.