Labor MP condemns 'disgraceful' waste

A federal Labor MP has slammed her own party's Budget as a "disgraceful waste of public money".

Outspoken New South Wales MP Julia Irwin criticised the centrepiece of the Budget - infrastructure funding.

In a wide-ranging speech to the House of Representatives, she also blasted the plan to raise the pension age and to not increase dole payments.

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has spent the past week touting the advantages of his Budget's big infrastructure expenditure.

Irwin was not convinced.

"I have to ask the question of whether its programmes are targeted as well as they could be," she said. "I really have to wonder whether the jobs required on those projects will suit the skills and experience of many who will lose their jobs in the course of this recession."

She said the Budget was "disappointing" on help for the jobless; it beefed up the aged pension, but not unemployment payments. She also expressed concerns about the plan to lift the pension age from 65 to 67.

Irwin said some blue-collar workers already had to go on the disability pension because they could not physically work until they were 65, and called for an inquiry into the plan to lift the age.

But the Budget measure which really riled her was funding for the controversial body which polices workplace laws on building sites, the Australian Building and Construction Commission.

"I want to turn to one Budget item that I regard as a disgraceful waste of public money," she said of the A$33 million ($42 million) for the commission.

"It is a very well-fed monster.

"Just what are the priorities of this Government, protecting the savings of ordinary Australians or threatening building workers?"

Irwin called on her party to axe the building commission.

- AAP