Malcolm Turnbull has been a very successful business person, but did he really mean to share some secrets of wealth creation yesterday?

Talking to Marius Benson on ABC NewsRadio about the Rudd Government’s target of surplus of 1.5% of GDP, the shadow treasurer said:

[T]he former government maintained the budget surplus in excess of one per cent and it has been growing every year for some time. The budget surplus was estimated immediately prior to the election to be $14.4 billion for this financial year, which is 1.3 per cent of GDP. These Treasury forecasts are always on the low side – they would rather underestimate than overestimate them – they invariably get beaten on the up side in the budget.

I think it is almost certain, highly probable that the budget surplus in 07/08 and 08/09 will be 1.5 per cent or better; significantly better I would think in this financial year anyway. So Mr Rudd, as usual is all spin and no substance. He is promising to deliver as a heroic gesture, that which the economy, which has been well managed by the coalition for eleven and a half years is already going to deliver.

Just look at Turnbull’s key comments again:

These Treasury forecasts are always on the low side.

They invariably get beaten on the up side in the budget.

He [Rudd] is promising to deliver as a heroic gesture, that which the economy… is already going to deliver.

The Australian economy has delivered growth each and every year since we emerged from the recession of the early nineties.

True, the Coalition’s spending helped produce a surplus from that growth, but this isn’t a chicken and egg situation. Economic growth came first. It produced the conditions that have produced surpluses.

Who set the economy on the path to deliver growth? Bob Hawke, Paul Keating and Peter Walsh.

Turnbull has confirmed Labor’s claim from the election last year: John Howard and Peter Costello simply surfed the wave of a strong economy.