Joe Hockey has found a friend who agrees the budget is in crisis.
And the backing comes from a unlikely source - economist John Edwards, a former adviser to Paul Keating and now a Reserve Bank board member appointed by the previous Labor government.
Dr Edwards told an Australian Financial Review roundtable he had no doubt there is a budget crisis.
"We're accumulating debt as a higher share of GDP and of course in absolute terms, (it's) absolutely astronomical compared to far more serious episodes in Australian history, including recoveries from serious recessions," he said, according to the newspaper's report.
The treasurer gleefully relayed the news during question time in parliament on Wednesday.
If something is not done about Labor's debt and deficit legacy, Australia will face a crisis, Mr Hockey said.
"Labor, get out of the way and let us fix the budget," he told parliament.
Prime Minister Tony Abbott also had a go.
"Even John Edwards, a long-term Labor staffer, a long-term friend of the Labor Party, a decent human being, it has to be said, but someone who Labor appointed to the Reserve Bank board has come right out and said honestly there is a budget crisis," Mr Abbott said.
What Mr Hockey didn't say was that Dr Edwards reportedly said that the real crisis was actually one of revenue, something that successive governments have failed to address.
This contradicts the coalition's mantra that it was Labor's excessive spending that has caused current deficits.
Dr Edwards said government spending as a proportion of GDP would suggest it's not an expenditure issue, yet Australia continues to run large budget deficits - which points more to a revenue issue.
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