Abbott takes a swipe at NSW Labor

(AAP) - Federal Opposition Leader Tony Abbott says the NSW Liberal Party is not taking anything for granted in the lead-up to the state election.
Mr Abbott was in Little Manly in Sydney on Sunday helping the shadow treasurer Mike Baird in the area's Clean Up Australia Day effort.
"I don't think anyone in the NSW Liberal Party is taking anything for granted.
"Certainly, the Labor Party is now trying to talk up the chances of a Liberal victory. This is classic `feel sorry for me' tactics by the Labor Party," he told reporters.
Mr Abbott said the current NSW Labor government had been the worst government in history.
"Not since Captain Bligh have we had such a terrible government here in NSW," he said.
He said his activities at Little Manly were really "cleaning up Australia" and it was direct and practical action that would make an environmental difference.
In comparison he said Prime Minister Julia Gillard's carbon tax would be a hit on the cost of living without necessarily cleaning up the environment.
"Electricity bills will go up $300 a year around Australia, $500 a year here in NSW. It means a six and a half cents a litre hit on the price of your petrol, so whether you're at the petrol pump or the supermarket your cost of living will go up under Julia Gillard's carbon tax," he said.
He noted that Treasurer Wayne Swan had said on Sunday that the carbon tax wasn't really a tax, but "if it acts like a tax and it hits you like a tax, it is a tax".
"The important thing is what will it do to people's cost of living and if it drives up your cost of living it is a tax. It's effectively an increase in the rate of GST - that's what it is," he said.