Can't afford PMs populist budget:Shorten

Opposition Leader Bill Shorten says there needs to be a 10-year budget plan rather than the dull one promised by the prime minister.

Labor leader Bill Shorten (AAP) Source: AAP

Bill Shorten says Australia can't afford the "dull" budget promised by Prime Minister Tony Abbott any more than it can afford a re-run of last year's disaster.

In a pre-budget speech in Sydney, the opposition leader said the budget needed to plan for the next 10 years, not just for Mr Abbott's survival to the end of the year.

"We can't afford an outbreak of shallow populism," he told the McKell Institute on Monday.