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CANBERRA - Last night's federal Budget fails the future test, Labor says.
Treasurer Peter Costello has unveiled a voter-friendly pre-election Budget with tax cuts for all Australians, one-off payments to families, carers and aged pensioners, and billions of dollars in roads and education funding.
Labor's treasury spokesman, Wayne Swan, said Labor welcomed the tax cuts and bonuses because many families and carers were under financial pressure. But the Budget did little to build the country's future productivity, he said.
"Instead, it relies on the continuation of the mining boom for our future economic prosperity," Swan said.
"This is a clever election year Budget - but it is a Budget that fails the future test."
Swan said the mining boom had injected A$55 billion ($62.25 billion) into the economy over the past year and more than A$300 billion over the past five years, masking the country's low productivity growth.
He said the Budget should have addressed the urgent need to revive productivity, invested in an education revolution, delivered a national high-speed broadband network and taken decisive action on climate change and the water crisis.
"The 2007 federal Budget is yet another squandered opportunity to use the once-in-a-generation A$300 billion mining boom to secure Australia's long-term economic prosperity," he said.
"Australian families care about their children's future. [They] want their federal Budgets to address the long-term challenges Australia faces."
-AAP
