In the most important speech of his political career, Tony Abbott has cast himself as the nation's saviour, rescuing it from the mining tax and Labor's doubtful promises.
He has put the tax on mining super-profits at the centre of the coalition campaign to win the next federal election, pledging to wind it back if he wins government.
The opposition leader committed to a two-year freeze on public sector jobs, designed to save $4 billion through the natural attrition of 6,000 jobs, and to scrapping Labor's national broadband network.
During a withering assessment of Labor's record during his budget-in-reply speech, Mr Abbott said the first rule of government was to "do no harm".
Instead, Labor had been a reckless spender, blowing money on its botched insulation program and wasteful school building program that had to be paid for through higher taxes.
"The coalition wants lower taxes, smaller government and greater freedom," Mr Abbott said. But his broad-brush vision is unlikely to appease critics who attack the coalition for focusing its strategy on bashing the government rather than putting forward policies.
Mr Abbott refused to buckle to government's demands to detail his savings, reiterating that fully funded and costed policies would be released closer to the election.
He signalled opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey would announce further measures to reduce spending and increase productivity when he addressed the National Press Club next week.
Mr Abbott derided the Rudd government's third budget - which promised a return to surplus in three years and a faster paydown of debt - as "the most political, the least believable and the most damaging to Australia's long-term future".
Labor countered by describing Mr Abbott as a giant risk to the nation's future prosperity.
"This is the most negative, flaky, risky budget reply ever," Finance Minister Lindsay Tanner told reporters. Central to Mr Abbott's speech was a sustained argument against the mining tax, which he warned was a threat to the sector that had saved Australia from recession.
"The only way to stop this great big new tax on the people who saved us from recession is to change the government," he said. He pledged to match, if not better, Labor's plan to return the budget to surplus and to wind back debt faster, too. "It took a change of government to get Labor's debt paid off last time and, once again, the quickest way to get rid of this debt will be to get rid of this government."
His message to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd was that his reckless spending had to stop. "Until Labor's debt and deficit has been dealt with it's not hardness of heart but economic prudence to say no even to good causes.
"In other circumstances, you could fund a company tax cut and depreciation allowances for small business but not at the cost of an economy-stopping tax on our most successful export industry."
Watched by his wife, three daughters and parents, Mr Abbott promised the coalition had learned from the mistakes of the past and would "strive to be better than the former government".
But he reiterated the coalition planned to tinker with Labor's industrial reforms, including unfair dismissal laws and its workplace agreements. Among his other promises, Mr Abbott vowed to spend more on health, restructure the school building program, cut government advertising and scrap a funding increase for the renewable energy future fund.
