‘Nothing to show’ for huge debt: Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese slams Prime Minister

It’s been labelled a big-spending pre-election budget, but the Opposition Leader says there’s nothing to show for being plunged further into debt.

The Opposition Leader said there is “nothing to show” for the Coalition’s big-spending budget that will leave Australia languishing in eye-watering debt for years to come.

Many have branded the federal fiscal plan as a Labor-style budget, given its focus on aged care support and improving conditions for working mothers.

But Anthony Albanese said the focus on social issues is merely the Morrison government’s attempt to clean up funding imbalances and previous crises that have “happened on their watch”, insisting Labor policies would better support social services.

“Their (child care) plan helps one quarter of the families that our plan would help, and if you look at the longer term issues, this is a real missed opportunity,” he told Seven’s Sunrise on Wednesday morning.

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Anthony Albanese will be deliver his budget reply speech on Wednesday. Picture: Sam Mooy/Getty Images

“There will be low wages, there is nothing there to grow productivity, there is nothing there to advance new industries, there is nothing there to build back stronger,” he said.

“If you are going to have $1 trillion of debt, you want a legacy to show for it and there is nothing that in this budget to indicate anything other than low wages, low wage growth, low economic growth into the future, and no real plan beyond getting through the next election.”

The federal budget assumes the entire Australian population will be vaccinated towards the end of the year and doesn’t factor in the economic impact of further state closures to contain COVID-19 outbreaks, Mr Albanese said.

“The vaccine rollout, as you know, has been a debacle,” the Opposition Leader said.

“They said 4 million people would be vaccinated by March, they are now having a go at Queensland and harassed Annastacia Palaszczuk about shutting down borders.

“They are now saying we won’t open up until sometime in 2022, after the election. This is all about short-term politics.”

Speaking to Today, Albanese put his point more succintly.

”The treasurer spoke about plans for jobs – this is a plan for Scott Morrison’s job, no one else’s” he said.

”There is no long-term plan here.”