Prime Minister Tony Abbott says he hopes Opposition Leader Bill Shorten can use his budget reply to start outlining his plans for Australia.
Mr Abbott says Labor's opposition to every budget saving and support for every spending measure shows its intellectual bankruptcy.
Even so, he says his job after his government's budget isn't to criticise Labor.
"Who knows - maybe Bill Shorten will come up with some serious ideas on Thursday night in his budget reply," he told Sky News on Wednesday evening.
Mr Abbott said he hoped Labor could lift itself out of its game playing mentality of the past couple of days and actually start spelling out solutions.
"If they don't like the government solutions, let's not smear people across the chamber - let's actually offer an alternative," he said.
Mr Abbott said he had been trying to be as responsive as he could to the concerns of Australians.
"This is a government that has broken free of the political distractions we found ourselves enveloped in for a couple of months from the end of last year through to February," he said.
He rejected suggestions he could call an early election if this week's budget is well-received.
Mr Abbott said parliament should run for its full three years and that's what everyone wanted.
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