Opposition Leader Tony Abbott arrives at the National Press Club in Canberra today. Source: AdelaideNow
STRUGGLING households would be asked to wait longer for further tax cuts under a Coalition government.
Taxpayers would also wait for a national disability insurance scheme and affordable dental care under the Liberals, it emerged yesterday.
Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said the Coalition backed a disability insurance scheme, but at an annual cost of $6 billion, "this important and necessary reform can’t be fully implemented until the Budget returns to a strong surplus.
"It’s one of the reasons why it’s so important to return to surplus quickly," he said.
Future tax cuts would also be subject to affordability.
"By the close of the next Coalition government’s first term, I am confident that waste, mismanagement and reckless spending will have been brought under control; more tax cuts will be in prospect," mr Abbott said.
He also nominated bringing dental services "more generally under Medicare" at a cost of $4 billion annually as a goal but said that as with future tax cuts, the current budget deficit meant such reforms were "an aspiration not a promise".
Predicting a "very tough year for the economy" the Opposition Leader said tax cuts and new services would be "the light at the end of the tunnel" for Australian taxpayers.
The Government said mr Abbott was breaking promises even before being elected.
The argument came as the first Newspoll for the year found Labor’s primary vote remained stuck at 30 per cent, prompting renewed leadership speculation and leading Arts Minister Simon Crean to declare that Kevin Rudd would never return to the prime ministership.
"He can’t be prime minister again," mr Crean told Fairfax Radio. "the leadership will not be vacant. the sooner the party wakes up to that … the better off we will be."
Prime Minister Julia Gillard will make a major economic speech today, declaring Australia can build a new economy in tune with the 21st century.
"Our people do not want to be forced to choose between mining and the rest; nor do they want to choose between a strong future for manufacturing and a strong economy as a whole," she will say.
"They know their hard work has given Government a strong hand and they are looking to us to play the right cards.
"In this decade, Australia can build a rich, fair economy where working people get their share of the benefits and where strength is sustained into the future."