Live updates: Labor and Coalition criticise rival economic plans as election announcement draws near

ROLLING UPDATES: AFTER initially refusing to reveal costings, the Turnbull government has now disclosed company tax cuts will cost nearly $50bn over 10 years.

WITH an election set to be called within days, the two major parties are at each other’s throats over economic management.

Industry Minister Christopher Pyne kicked off the day by clearing confusion over the cost of a 10-year plan to cut tax rates to business. Mr Pyne said the cost of the cornerstone Budget measure is $5.3 billion. It comes after Opposition Leader Bill Shorten last night presented Labor’s take on the Turnbull government Budget, declaring it punished people who can’t afford it and rewarded those who didn’t need it. “Worse than that it speaks for a lack of vision, a lack of understanding of what makes this country great,” he said. Mr Shorten outlined some of his plans, including legislating to ensure Medicare can’t be privatised, cracking down on dodgy private training colleges and $71 billion of Budget savings. But Finance Minister Mathias Cormann dismissed Mr Shorten’s speech as “all politics and no plan”. “All we got was another Labor push for higher taxes which hurt jobs and growth. What the Australian economy needs right now is a national economic plan for jobs and growth,” he said. Follow our live coverage of today’s events below:

Originally published as Live updates: Labor and Coalition criticise rival economic plans as election announcement draws near

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