Bill Shorten under pressure ahead of Budget reply speech

HE’S under pressure to show the country he’s ‘got what it takes’ to be Prime Minister. Tonight, Bill Shorten will have our full attention.

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten in Question Time in the House of Representatives Chamber at Parliament House in Canberra. pic by Kym Smith

BILL Shorten tonight will confront the charge he leads a policy-free, free-spending Opposition in a speech expected to outline new commitments and directions.

In his formal reply to the Budget, Mr Shorten also is expected to directly attack the priorities of the Government, accusing it of being more concerned with its re-election hopes than the needs of voters.

He will identify what he considers to be “unfairness” in such areas as health and education funding and call for greater effort in collecting tax on profits transnationals send offshore.

Labor has been under pressure to produce solid alternatives to Government measures it has been criticising for the past 18 months. Mr Shorten has been running on negativity alone.

The second Budget of Prime Minister Tony Abbott’s government has been seen as an unofficial deadline for him to produce competing policies, although there is no expectation the Opposition will produce a complete alternative Budget.

The Government upped that pressure today, demanding Mr Shorten explain where he will find the money for Labor program and get into surplus.

“Tonight Mr Shorten has to show he’s got what it takes,” said Finance Minister Mathias Cormann.

And, “Specifically, he has to show us the money.”

The Opposition Leader said: “I’m going to talk about the future. That’s what Australians want,”

Mr Shorten outlined one contested Budget area — the Government’s refusal to tax on large superannuation accounts.

“We think that people should be able to get (tax) concessions on their superannuation — absolutely,” Mr Shorten told the Seven network.

“But once you’ve got $5 or $10 million in your superannuation, and you’re pulling down an income stream of $500,000, do you need you or I and everyone else giving them a further tax concessions?”

The Opposition Leader also is expected to criticise Government handling of women’s issues, referring to the Budget’s rejection of paid parental leave for workers who have negotiated another leave deal with employers — the so-called “double dipping”.

Today he accused the Government of making women with two leave arrangements a “new group of villains in the Australian society” to accusing of rorting.

“They’ve appointed some new bad people too go after, to demonise,” he said launching a Women’s Budget Statement.

Mr Shorten tonight is also expected to take up themes he outlined in a speech on May 4, which took aim at the past internal instability of the Abbott government.

He said then: “We can’t afford a budget that puts Tony Abbott’s job ahead of Australian jobs.

“We need a budget planning for the next ten years, not a plan for Tony Abbott to survive to the end of the year.”

Originally published as Bill Shorten under pressure ahead of Budget reply speech