Abbott Pledges Surplus Within Decade as Australia Poll Nears

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Australian opposition leader Tony Abbott officially began his party’s election campaign, pledging a budget surplus equal to 1 percent of gross domestic product within a decade as polls show he’s set to become prime minister.

“The current government has turned a A$20 billion ($18 billion) surplus into deficits stretching out as far as the eye can see,” Abbott, 55, told Liberal party supporters yesterday in a packed hall at the Queensland Performing Arts Centre in Brisbane. “We can’t afford another three years like the last six.”