No support for poverty reduction target

The major parties are under pressure to disclose election policies about how they will address poverty and growing inequality in Australia.

The major parties are under pressure to disclose policies about how they will address poverty. (AAP)

The major parties are not jumping over themselves to embrace the concept of a national target to reduce poverty.

The idea has been floated by the Australian Council of Social Service as part of a wider push for the major parties to put tackling inequality at the heart of the election campaign.

"Economic growth needs to be inclusive and to lift the living standards of people who have the least," chief executive Cassandra Goldie said in a statement.

Despite two decades of sustained economic growth an estimated 2.6 million people and 600,000 children live below the poverty line, she said.

Both major parties declined to throw their support behind the target idea on Thursday.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann told reporters in Canberra the best way to reduce poverty in Australia was to increase economic growth and job creation.

There was a strong focus in the May budget on supporting disadvantaged youth with the establishment of a internship program to help them find a pathway into jobs.

Opposition finance spokesman Tony Burke said Labor's policies were based on fairness compared to the government.

He seized on the government's company tax cuts to "the top end of town" and reduced support for Medicare.

"You know when those sort of hits occur, people with tighter household budgets feel those hits much more personally," Mr Burke said.