Dutton’s economic management on the line as Coalition to reveal election costings and budget plan

Peter Dutton’s claim to lead the party of superior economic management will be put to the test when the coalition releases its policy costings with two days to go until polling day.

Mr Dutton and shadow treasurer Angus Taylor have promised their financial receipts, to be released on Thursday, will show an improvement to the federal budget if the Coalition was elected.

Savings have been assured by repealing Labor’s $17 billion income tax cuts, axing investment in electricity transmission infrastructure and shrinking the size of the public service.

“The Liberal Party is always a better economic manager, and interest rates have been higher for longer under Labor,” Mr Dutton told journalists in Melbourne on Wednesday.

But the coalition has also promised to increase spending, including a $20 billion regional investment fund, as well as measures that reduce the tax take over the next few years, such as a $1200 tax rebate and a $6 billion cut in the fuel excise by 25 cents a litre.

Mr Dutton visited his 15th petrol station of the campaign on Wednesday to promise cheaper fuel.

Before the last election, the Coalition, under then-Prime Minister Scott Morrison, halved the fuel excise to counter surging petrol prices caused by the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

But the rationale for the cut this time around is less clear, given petrol prices are considerably cheaper than they were three years ago.

Filling up a Holden Commodore belonging to the Liberal candidate for Aston, Manny Cicchiello, Mr Dutton selected the 91 octane ULP, costing 179 cents a litre.

“Everybody is worse off under this Prime Minister, and only by voting for your Liberal or National candidate can we get rid of a bad government,” he said at the BP service station in Scoresby in Melbourne’s east.

Mr Dutton will start Thursday in Brisbane, having visited 13 electorates out of a promised 28 in a final-week blitz before polls close on Saturday.