The economy is about people - and people are struggling to keep up with the cost of living.
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That was the key message shadow treasurer Angus Taylor wanted to get across in his first major speech since the Albanese government's budget.
Mr Taylor said the overarching economy was in a relatively good position, but businesses were struggling to find workers, waterlogged roads were deteriorating and power bills were hurting hip pockets.
"The Australian economy is fundamentally resilient," he told the National Press Club on Wednesday.
"We have more businesses, strong terms of trade, record commodity prices, economic growth over three per cent and record low unemployment.
"But despite this turnaround and economic strength, people aren't feeling it in their everyday lives."
The prime minister has spent his first post-budget week on the road spruiking his government's child care pledge.
Anthony Albanese says the best way to tackle the cost of living is to boost the workforce by the equivalent of 37,000 workers through cheaper child care.
The policy is set to save a parent on $60,000 with one child up to $800, but won't come into effect until mid-next year.
"Our most untapped resource is the full economic participation of women," he told reporters at a childcare centre in Adelaide on Wednesday.
But Mr Taylor has accused the government of raising the white flag on tackling inflation and bringing down the cost of living.
"This is a budget that tells Australians the government knows that it's tough but doesn't have the solutions," he said.
Mr Taylor suggested allowing pensioners to work more hours without their payments being docked as one possible ailment to cost of living pressures.
"The budget fails to use fiscal policy to make any headway to reduce pressures on inflation, to address the source of the pressure."
Despite a healthier-than-expected deficit for 2022/23, the budget is expected to head further into the red in later years.
Mr Taylor said the Labor government had abandoned a cap on taxes as a percentage of economic growth, which was leaving the door open to higher taxes.
"What we want to see is an environment where Australians have confidence that governments are not going to be either quietly or more explicitly raising taxes."
Without the assurance that taxpayers can keep more of the money they earn, he said Australians were disincentivised to take risks in their careers and business decisions.
"You're not going to see a strong, robust, resilient economy in the coming years if Australians aren't prepared to take risks," he said.
A self-imposed 23.9 per cent cap on tax as a percentage of GDP remains coalition policy.
Mr Taylor also said regional communities had been left behind in the budget, with $2.8 billion of infrastructure projects cut and a further $6.5 billion in infrastructure projects delayed.
"These projects are productivity game changers that bust congestion, build capacity and improve quality of life in our regions," he said.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said handouts and further spending would be counterproductive and would hurt Australians in the medium term with spiking inflation and interest rates.
He said spending the unexpected commodities windfall on cost of living supports for households would have added an extra 0.5 percentage points to inflation each year.
Dr Chalmers said it would have been "more popular" to borrow money to spend on cost of living payments.
He also said the decision to bank the tax windfall would save the budget $47 billion in interest payments over the medium term.
Australian Associated Press
