ELECTION 2010: Coalition promises to provide tax receipts for government spending as Abbott’s “win” in town hall talkfest is probed

What’s an election without a good prop? The Opposition has again attempted to attack the Government for its wasteful spending practices by promising to produce personal tax receipt statements to show individual tax payers where their tax dollars have been spent.

Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey has also promised taxpayers the receipt, which would include details on government debt, would be accompanied by a “thank you” note.

“This initiative will help put pressure on government to ensure that tax revenue collected is spent wisely,” Mr Abbott told reporters this morning.

“Taxpayers have a right to know exactly how their money is being spent and this will force the government to be more accountable to taxpayers who rightly feel they are being ripped off.”

Abbott has also promised to establish an “office of due diligence” that would examine government spending initiatives for waste.

Abbott, who faced a confrontation with former Labor leader-turned-reporter Mark Latham today, is riding high after claiming a “win” in the wash-up from the leader’s town hall style meetings, held last night in the Sydney suburb of Rooty Hill.

Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Abbott took to the stage separately to answer questions from a room full of apparently undecided voters.

While both leaders appeared polished in their presentations, a poll of the audience taken straight after the event suggested Abbott had been more convincing.

However, there are now claims the audience was “stacked” in favour of Abbott, after it was revealed the son of a former Liberal MP was part of the audience.

Polling company Galaxy says it will investigate the claims.

Gillard was in Tasmania this morning to flick the switch on the Tasmanian leg of the NBN, but not before Communications Minister Stephen Conroy announced the maximum possible download speeds on the Government’s NBN would now be 1 gigabyte per second, 10 times higher than originally promised.

The timing of the announcement is clearly designed to put pressure on the Opposition over its plan to abandon the NBN, but some experts have questioned whether there is demand for speeds of this level.

The Government has also unveiled a pitch to voters in Western Sydney, promising to fund 80% of a $2.1 billion railway linking Epping and Parramatta.

But the Coalition has countered by releasing a letter from New South Wales Transport Minister John Robertson to Deputy Lord Mayor of Parramatta Councillor Chiang Lim, which says the rail link is not a project on the 10-year horizon of the state government.