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PM warns Australians on taxes, services

Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull has called on Labor and the crossbenchers to support budget savings after conceding net debt could blow out.

Australians will face higher taxes, fewer government services and a $100 billion-plus national debt blow-out if the coalition's budget savings measures are blocked, the prime minister warns.

Malcolm Turnbull was discussing the "very big" budget challenge ahead, after new modelling by Deloitte Access Economics pointed to the risk posed by underperforming economic growth and failure to repair the budget deficit.

"There is no question that the debt could blow out by $100 billion or more if the parliament is not prepared to face up to reality and deal with this budget challenge," he told radio 3AW radio on Friday.

The analysis conducted for The Australian considers the impact of Treasury predictions the pace of economic growth will return to pre-2009 pace are wrong and that the government is unable to get its savings measures through the Senate.

"Consistently since 2011, Australia has budgeted that things wouldn't get worse in China and that there would be enough bipartisanship to pass things in the Senate," Deloitte Access partner Chris Richardson said on Friday.

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"In practice, neither of those two things has come to pass and the risk is that it stays that way."

Mr Turnbull warned there would be repercussions for Australians.

"It means they won't have the government services in the future that they have today," he said.

"It means the high taxes they pay today will be even higher in the future.

"It means governments won't have the ability to fund the social services, the schools, the hospitals, the roads, the public transport."

The coalition continues to pressure Labor to back its measures when parliament resumes on August 30, when the government plans to introduce an omnibus bill covering $6.5 billion in savings.

Cabinet minister Christopher Pyne says the savings include policy decisions Opposition Leader Bill Shorten took to the July federal election.

"So it's just the height of hypocrisy for Bill Shorten to now be playing ducks and drakes and saying he may not support that bill when they're Labor's own savings measures," he told Nine Network.

Labor frontbencher Anthony Albanese accused the government of playing politics.

"We haven't seen the bill," he said.

Finance Minister Mathias Cormann admitted the 2016/17 budget outlook would be different if the savings don't eventuate and growth is lower than anticipated.

"But of course the government is committed to keep passing our savings measures through the parliament," he told Sky News.

"We certainly call on, in particular the Labor party, and every party represented in the parliament to work with us."


3 min read

Published

Source: AAP



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