Logic lacklustre in Leigh's latest leap

JUST hours after an embarrassing admission of being wrong on Australia’s so-called ‘faceless investors’, Labor’s spokesman on the Australian Bureau of Statistics has yet again been caught out of facts in his latest media release, Small Business Minister Michael McCormack says.

“Dr Leigh talks at length of the challenges for the ABS from Budget cuts, but yet again it is deficient in detail,” Mr McCormack said. 

“If Dr Leigh was chasing more than a headline, he would note the Coalition has invested $257 million to enable the ABS to upgrade its ageing technology systems and processes.

“This is the investment the ABS requires to undertake its essential functions.”

Mr McCormack said the blame for cuts to the ABS lay only with the Labor Party.

“Not surprisingly, Dr Leigh doesn’t mention the $44 million in cuts the Labor Party made to the ABS in Government or the statement from then-Statistician Brian Pink that the agency could ‘barely keep the lights on’ under Labor’s watch,” Mr McCormack said.

“Dr Leigh also neglects to mention the preliminary estimates which show 96 per cent of Australians completed the Census – including 58 per cent online – despite the his scare-mongering at the time.”

Mr McCormack said the Shadow Minister should stop pacing the press gallery desperate for a headline.

“In another attempt to get his name in the paper, Dr Leigh continues to forget his Party’s record in Government and seeks to erode confidence in the Australian Bureau of Statistics,” Mr McCormack.

“I would have thought after his performance recently, the Doctor would learn to read the detail.”

Cristy Houghton