Opposition Leader Tony Abbott's decision to release a full list of election promises and costs late next week will leave voters scrambling to make an informed choice, the treasurer says.
Chris Bowen told reporters on Saturday morning the delay showed the coalition had something to hide.
"There are real questions to answer on the opposition's costings and where the cuts will come and we've seen Mr Abbott over the last 24 hours say, well, we'll release all of that at the end of next week," Mr Bowen said.
"Well hello, the election's next Saturday!"
Liberal Senator Arthur Sinodinos said the coalition had already released most of its costings.
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"Once we've released all our policies then we're able to parcel them all up and see the budget bottom lines, the spends, the saves and the overall impact on the bottom line," he told ABC Radio.
But Mr Bowen said that strategy amounted to deception.
"If you're not going to put your cuts out until the last minute - after the advertising blackout, after people have had the chance to fully examine their cuts - then you are not being up front and honest with the Australian people," he told reporters.
Mr Bowen continued to back the government's "$10 billion fraud" claims about coalition policies.
He and Prime Minister Kevin Rudd on Thursday released figures they said blew a hole in the savings the coalition says it will make by shedding 12,000 public servants, ending the low income superannuation contribution and abolishing the carbon tax.
In an extraordinary move, the heads of Treasury and Finance distanced their departments from Labor's statements, saying they had never assessed any coalition policies prior to the caretaker period.
On Saturday Mr Bowen directly contradicted them.
"We made it crystal clear... that we had commissioned this work, not the opposition, and two, that it was done before the election was called," he said.
He said he stood by the $10 billion black hole claims and that different assumptions - like whether a policy would begin on July 1 next year or be applied retrospectively - would lead to different outcomes.
