THE ACT Labor-Greens coalition has made more than $2.5 billion worth of election commitments in the lead up to this weekend’s election, according to a calculation done by the Canberra Liberals.  

This is in contrast to the about $1.1 billion worth of commitments, promised by the Canberra Liberals, revealed by leader Alistair Coe last week.

Both costings are over a four year period.

ACT Labor, alone, made more than $1.5 billion worth of commitments and the ACT Greens made more than $1 billion worth of pledges.

Liberals leader Alistair Coe says ACT Labor can’t keep borrowing forever.

“$2.5 billion worth of debt has to be paid for somehow. Labor’s record is clear; taxes will go up and the cost of living will go up to pay for the Labor-Greens agenda,” he says.

“Labor’s story always ends with taxes. The only way Labor will pay for their promises is with more and higher taxes. It’s in their DNA, it’s just what they do.”

However, ACT Labor leader Andrew Barr has since said that these costings are incorrect, saying the party’s “new spend” is half of what the Liberals claim, which would bring it down to about $7.5 million.

Mr Barr also questioned how the Liberals will pay for its $1.1 billion commitments bundle, saying that Mr Coe’s “grow the pie” theory is more like “magic pudding”.

He said Labor’s commitments won’t require magic pudding economics.

“Much of our announcements come from allocations and provisions already made. But we have added around $130 million over four years in new expenditure, $320 million over four years in new infrastructure expenditure, with another $100 million sitting in a 2024-25 fiscal year, which is outside the current forward estimates period,” Mr Barr said.