Consumers appear to be taking a long election campaign in their stride as the major parties lock horns over spending commitments.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull again chastised Opposition Leader Bill Shorten for joking about his "spend-o-meter".
"The real issue is the flagrant wastefulness and recklessness of the Labor Party outspending us by 20 to 1 in this campaign," Mr Turnbull told reporters near Geelong on Tuesday.
Finance Minister Mathias Cormann reckons Labor has a $66 billion budget black hole, that includes $18.9 billion government measures the opposition has helped block in the Senate.
That will grow to $200 billion over the next decade, the government claims.
"Bill Shorten needs to start to explain how he is going to pay for his $66-billion black hole, how he is going to make up that gap," Senator Cormann told reporters in Canberra.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen dismissed as "fantasy" the government's figuring.
"We will not take any pious lectures from a government which has at the centrepiece of its budget, a tax cut it wouldn't tell the Australian people how much it costs and is completely and totally unfunded," he told ABC radio.
Senator Cormann conceded four-year budget estimates were more accurate than 10-year projections.
But that hasn't stopped the government committing to a plan to cut the company tax rate to 25 per cent by 2026/27.
The $48 billion cost of reducing the company tax rate from 30 per cent is reflected in the budget bottom line.
"The costings in our budget are based on that plan," he said.
The argy-bargy over spending commitments does not appear to be unnerving consumers.
The ANZ-Roy Morgan consumer confidence index rose for a fourth straight week, increasing by 0.5 per cent in the past week and now stands 2.6 per cent above the long-run average.
"With another five weeks left in the election campaign, confidence remains vulnerable to any key developments," ANZ senior economist Jo Masters said.
