LINDA MOTTAM, PRESENTER:The Shadow Treasurer, Chris Bowen, joins me now. Chris Bowen, welcome.

CHRIS BOWEN, SHADOW TREASURER:Thank you Linda good evening.

MOTTAM:With the Budget back in surplus from next year, net debt peaking this year earlier than expected, do you give the Government credit for getting the Budget back in order?

BOWEN:This is a Government which has completely not learnt the lessons of the last five years. I mean, this is a Budget which continues to contain $80 billion worth of tax cuts for big business at the same time as trying to take away the energy supplement, $14 a fortnight, from pensioners and Newstart recipients, and making Australians work until they're 70 before they can get the pension. I mean, all these things which have been in the failed Budgets of the past are repeated tonight. On the matter of the Budget balance, this is a Government which has the best international economic conditions in a decade and yet we're still only getting wafer thin surpluses and we don't get to 1 per cent of GDP as a surplus until almost 10 years away. Gross debt will remain greater than half a trillion dollars every year for the next decade. So there is plenty for people to be concerned about in this Budget.

MOTTAM:Okay but these things are always a trade-off, we're going into an election year, the Coalition is offering modest tax cuts immediately, boosting the low income tax offset and in the medium term by addressing bracket creep. Will you match those measures?

BOWEN:Well we'll vote for the tax cuts which apply on the 1st of July 2018, with wages growth being so low, we support those tax cuts. I think the Australian people when they look at tax cuts being waved in front of them for 2022 and 2024 are entitled to be very cynical. We'll have plenty more to say about our approach to cost of living going forward, but we are voting for the tax cuts that apply on the 1st of July 2018, but we're not going to play Scott Morrison and Malcolm Turnbull's game of signing off on tax cuts on 2022 and 2024, and now you don't do 10 years worth of tax cuts in 10 minutes. This is highly irresponsible for us to say that we can just automatically sign on to tax cuts that we haven't seen the cost of, there's no break down in the Budget Papers of the cost of the different tax cuts, which is quite extraordinary. We'll be pursuing that, obviously, with some vigour. But we make very clear that we'll be supporting the tax cuts that apply on the 1st of July 2018.

MOTTRAM: So the changes to the low income tax offset which means low income earners get a tax break first, before corporate tax cuts as the Government promised, that passes your fairness test?

BOWEN: It's modest, it's $4 a week for somebody earning under $37,000 but we're not going to stand in the way of even modest support. Those Australians who for example who work on the weekends and lost $77 a week in penalty rates, they won't particularly notice the $4 a week but of course we would support it.

MOTTRAM: What do you make of that long term income tax plan? I mean you've said there that people should be sceptical but frankly, reform takes time. This is a plan that laid in some detail tonight to completely eliminate the 37 cents in the dollar tax bracket?

BOWEN: That particular element, Linda, is two elections away. You'd need to re-elect Malcolm Turnbull twice before that came into effect presuming the Liberal Party keeps him that long. I mean, I think the Australian people would see that very, very cynically indeed. This was a Government which 12 months ago told us they needed to increase personal income tax the situation was so dire. They needed to increase the Medicare Levy and raise $44 billion over the decade and now they're saying 12 months later we know what it's going to be like in 2024, we'll be able to provide you with an income tax cut then. Really?

MOTTRAM: Setting aside your criticism of that long term aspect, you will support the immediate tax cut?

BOWEN: Yes.

MOTTRAM: The Government will go to an election on the back of this Budget arguing you are a high taxing potential Government on the back of your franking credits policy. How are you going to counter that?

BOWEN: We'll have plenty more to say, Linda. Plenty more to say. This is their night to present their Budget, it's not my night to present my Budget. We have Thursday night we have other opportunities. I am very much welcoming an election campaign based on our alternative competing economic plans.

MOTTRAM:Thursday night, of course, being the Budget speech in reply from Bill Shorten. Just on the aged care sector - another big offering from the Government - do you give the Government credit for acting in an area where there has been a gaping need, where the sector is saying 'Government after Government has tried and failed'. Do you give them credit?

BOWEN:Let me, with respect, correct you. This is not a big offer. There is not one new dollar for the aged care sector. This is all a reprioritisation of existing money. Now I think this is cynical, it's a hoax, and it's cruel. And of course we would support and welcome the increase in the in-home care, but they are taking the money from elsewhere within aged care. Now we'll need to find exactly where - that's not exactly clear in the Budget Papers - but aged care is no better off as a result of this Budget. Not one dollar. Not one cent. And that is cruel. After all they have said in the last couple of days about baby boomers and the aged, it is a cruel hoax, and I am absolutely outraged at the way they have done this. This is just taking a cynical approach to aged care and misleading people.

MOTTRAM:It's a fine line Governments walk in this circumstance, particularly going into an election. The Treasurer's got the tax cuts on the table, notwithstanding what you've just said, he has put something out for the aged care sector including mental health for elderly Australians. He's also saying 'Look, we're doing our bit on Budget repair as well'. This is a pretty good sell, a pretty easy sell, for the Government isn't it?

BOWEN:Look, as I said this is a Government that hasn't learned it's lessons, Linda. I mean, we'll be pointing out the $80 billion worth of corporate tax cuts remain. Making people work until you're 70 remains. Taking the energy supplement off pensioners and Newstart recipients remains. And they haven't learnt a thing. They haven't learnt a thing and yet still we have a wafer thin surplus in 2019-20 and we don't get to 1 per cent of GDP until the end of the decade. I mean, we need to do much better, much better when it comes to Budget repair.

MOTTRAM: Well see how it plays with the electorate. Chris Bowen, Shadow Treasurer, thank you very much for your time.

BOWEN: Thank you, Linda.