Federal Labor fears a key document which sets the budget starting point for the next federal election campaign will be politicised because of recent Turnbull government appointments.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen turned up the heat on the appointment of two key government economic advisers in a speech in Melbourne on Wednesday.
Philip Gaetjens, a former chief of staff to Liberal federal treasurers, will take over from John Fraser as head of Treasury in August.
And another former Liberal federal and state ministerial staffer Michael Brennan will take over as chair of the Productivity Commission in September.
Mr Bowen said he was not questioning the pair's integrity or ability.
"But it is disingenuous to argue they are not partisans, because they are," Mr Bowen said.
"The Charter of Budget Honesty requires the Secretary of the Treasury to sign off the pre-election fiscal outlook, which is meant to be a document thoroughly above partisan politics.
"But the man signing it off will now be someone who a few weeks ago was the Treasurer's chief political adviser."
The former Rudd government treasurer said he had seen up close the professionalism of the Australian Treasury.
"And if I am treasurer again in the not too distant future, restoring the independence and non-partisan nature of this most important body will be a very important priority for me," he said.
Mr Gaetjens earlier this week described himself as being "more at the policy end of the spectrum than the political end".
He said there had been too much media focus on who people worked for rather than defining them by their capabilities.
