Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor speaks during a television interview at Parliament House in Canberra.
By Tess Ikonomou
Power bill relief for struggling households will sail through parliament but manufacturing subsidies face a more uncertain path.
The federal coalition has delivered an initial response to Treasurer Jim Chalmers’ budget, with Opposition Leader Peter Dutton to hand down his judgment on Thursday evening.
Shadow treasurer Angus Taylor said the opposition would not stand in the way of $300 energy bill rebates for Australian households.
But he criticised the government’s proposed tax incentives for clean energy and manufacturing projects under its Future Made in Australia plan.
The coalition couldn’t back $13.7 billion of production tax credits, Mr Taylor said.
“We cannot support billions in handouts to billionaires,” he said.
The opposition wanted the manufacturing and minerals processing sector to be strong, the shadow treasurer said.
“The way to get there is to focus on the fundamentals, not to throw money at them with subsidies,” he said.
Mr Taylor claimed the budget pumped a huge amount of money into the economy, adding to an “inflation dragon”.
“They’re not going to the source of the problem, they’re putting a Band-Aid on a bullet wound,” he said.
Had the coalition been in government, he said it would have driven more supply for the energy sector as a means to tackle inflation.
The opposition would have shown restraint in spending and aimed to grow the economy faster than the government, Mr Taylor said.
“There needs to be restraint, it’s not scorched earth. This is not a restrained budget, $4 of spending for every dollar of savings.”
