PM lays down budget challenge on coalition cuts

The prime minister has challenged the opposition to detail planned budget cuts should the coalition win government, after it said it could make “significant” reductions in spending.

Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor flagged that the coalition has identified a large number of cost-cutting measures ahead of the federal election, due to be held by May.

While some media reports have put the figure as high as $100 billion, Mr Taylor said the amount of budget savings would be notable.

“It’s significant, very significant. We’ve already opposed a substantial sum in parliament, and that includes things like power lines that are just not necessary at this point,” he told Canberra radio station 2CC on Tuesday.

“This is money that doesn’t need to be spent, it’s fuelling inflation. It’s making the cost-of-living crisis worse, and it is why this government has taken exactly the wrong approach to try to beat inflation.”

But Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said it was up to Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to give detail about where the planned budget cuts would be made.

“We know that Peter Dutton … he’ll be a reverse thrust on the economy. He will stifle the economy,” he told reporters in Sydney.

“He has to come out today and say where the $100 billion of cuts will be. Will it be cuts to important infrastructure, cuts to health and Medicare … cuts to education, cuts to services?”

But Mr Dutton said announcements on alternative budget approaches would be imminent.

“We’ll have more detail in relation to where we think there’s waste, and where we can more efficiently, spend money in the run up to the election, so watch this space,” he told reporters in Brisbane.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers said any plans for severe budget savings by the coalition would be a dangerous move.

“They plan billions of dollars to cuts in housing at a time when we’ve got a very severe housing shortage, and this goes to the absolute economic insanity of the Liberals and Nationals during an extreme housing shortage,” he told ABC Radio.

“They want to swing the axe on billions of dollars in housing funding.”

 

Andrew Brown
(Australian Associated Press)