Scott Morrison taunts Anthony Albanese on vacant poll pitch

Scott Morrison has accused Labor of attempting to sneak into office with a “vacant space’’ small-target strategy.

Scott Morrison says ‘we often speak of net zero in this place. The Labor Party is net zero on policy’. Picture: Getty Images

Scott Morrison has demanded Anthony Albanese reveal his economic policies, accusing Labor of attempting to sneak into office with a “vacant space’’ small-target strategy while vowing that the Coalition’s $8.6bn cost-of-living package will shield families against rising prices.

With the election campaign expected to be called within days and the Opposition Leader due to give his budget-in-reply speech on Thursday night, the Prime Minister called on Mr Albanese to be honest with voters about his ­intentions given Labor’s vow to release an alternative budget later this year.

Josh Frydenberg used his traditional National Press Club speech on Wednesday to declare the government had ­secured a world-leading economic recovery, the lowest unemployment rate in 48 years and a $100bn improvement to the budget bottom line. The Treasurer defended the decision to provide extra relief to families, arguing that the temporary fuel excise cut would reduce inflation by 0.25 per cent and not be extended.

He challenged Labor to reveal its alternative economic platform, accusing it of trying to win power by saying it would be a “mini-me of the government” and waving through the Coalition’s policies.

“Labor hasn’t laid out an economic plan,” he said. “They should be telling the Australian people now … They don’t come up with any costings, and just think that they can sail into government.”

The attack came ahead of the expected passage overnight of the three key pillars of the government’s cost-of-living package, including halving fuel excise, a $420 top-up of the low and middle income earner tax offset and one-off $250 cash payments.

Mr Albanese, who flew to Melbourne for Shane Warne’s funeral on the same government jet as Mr Morrison following question time, will use the budget reply speech to set out his vision for the country and focus on core Labor issues including health, NDIS, education, cost of living, wages and climate change.

Opposition sources said Mr Albanese’s speech, which includes a major election policy, ­targets key issues relegated in the budget and will defuse Coalition attacks on Labor’s record on ­defence and national security.

Mr Albanese and Labor Treasury spokesman Jim Chalmers said they wanted structural reform in the budget and more investment in defence, NDIS, aged care and health. “Those are important investments in the future,” Dr Chalmers said.

“If the government hadn’t sprayed around and wasted tens of billions of dollars, there’d be more room to fund our priorities, to invest in the future, and to provide that cost-of-living relief that people need.

Anthony Albanese budget reply speech will include a major election policy and will defuse Coalition attacks on Labor’s record on ­defence and national security. Picture: Getty Images

“The government’s got ­unemployment heading down in welcome ways. We’ve got skill shortages in the economy and we’re still not seeing the wages growth we need to keep up with the skyrocketing costs of living and real wages going backwards.”

“Zero is the amount of policy we’ve seen from those opposite,” Mr Morrison said. “We often speak of net zero in this place. The Labor Party is net zero on policy.

“They’re not a small target; they’re a vacant space when it comes to economic policy. You can’t find a policy between them. The Australian people deserve to know what the Labor Party will do, and they haven’t got a clue.”

The Treasurer said voters should not write off a Coalition victory and argued there was a “very clear choice” at this election.

“Jim Chalmers said a few days ago that Labor wanted to be ­‘flexible’ around tax,” Mr Frydenberg said. “What does flexible mean? He said Labor would deliver a budget before the end of the year if they are successful. What does that mean? Thursday night is Anthony Albanese’s opportunity. He needs to show the Australian people what his plan is, and I doubt he will.”

Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky will address the parliament at 5.30pm on Thursday, before Mr Albanese speaks.

After announcing a $420 top-up in the low-to-middle-income tax offset for 10 million workers earning up to $126,000, Mr Frydenberg on Wednesday ruled out extending the LMITO for another year. “The answer is a very clear no,” he said. “When LMITO was first introduced it was part of a plan to merge with our three-stage tax-reduction plan. We then extended it because we were in a Covid crisis, as fiscal stimulus. It was never meant to be a permanent feature of the tax system.”

Labor has attacked the ­government’s economic management through the pandemic, accusing it of accumulating more than a trillion dollars in debt and record deficits with little to show for it. Speaking at a National Press Club event in Parliament House, Mr Frydenberg said: “What was the alternative? We took more than 1000 decisions in response to the biggest economic shock since the Great Depression, and of course the debt burden is higher as a result.

“But at the first opportunity we were taking the chance to reduce and then taper and then stop those emergency support payments. And we were criticised for it. Now that the economy is normalising, you’re starting to see the benefit of that stronger economy to the budget bottom line.”

Treasury’s updated forecasts showed the budget deficit would more than halve to 1.6 per cent as a share of the economy by 2025-26, before halving again at the limits of the projection period in 2032-33. Mr Frydenberg said the Coalition would seek to plug the long-term shortfall by pursuing a pro-growth strategy rather than spending cuts.

“What our focus has been on is growing the economy, growing the pie so that those deficits reduce as a share of GDP,” he said. “At the end of the medium-term there’s still a 0.7 per cent gap between the receipts and payments. But by growing the pie we can reduce our deficits over time, steadily. Our focus to meet that gap over the coming period is going to be about growing that pie.”

Dr Chalmers used question time to challenge the government over $3bn in “secret cuts” over the forward estimates, but Mr Morrison said this was documented in the budget papers. “It refers to the decisions taken but not yet announced,” he said. “I am giving a lesson in budgets for dummies.”