The spinning top that is Tony Abbott

Almost every utterance of Australian Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has to be taken with a grain of salt.

This was Tony Abbott during the House of Representatives’ Question Time on 30 May 2013:

My question is to the Prime Minister. I remind her that the latest IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook shows that Australia's competitiveness has slumped to its lowest ranking in 17 years….

Oh dear, poor Mr. Abbott. The 2013 IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook actually showed that Australia’s ranking has risen since 2012. Which means he has been a little slow in noticing the ‘slump’.

Mr. Abbott also doesn’t mention that this year’s IMD report records Australia at rank 16 as being more competitive than the United Kingdom, Mainland China, Japan and New Zealand among others.

I wonder if he has noticed that none of the data used by the Swiss business school which produces this year book is actually sourced directly from Australia?