Labor leader Anthony Albanese has dismissed criticisms that his party's climate and housing programs will increase the national debt, saying the off-budget spending would be reinvested.
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The opposition leader, at a press conference in Sydney, said attacks targeting his party's planned expenditure was a sign of desperation from opponents.
Mr Albanese on Monday said Labor's climate and affordable housing programs involved off-budget spending in the same way as the Clean Energy Finance Corporation.
"This is an investment that produces a return. You only have off budget commitments if it produces a return to the government," he said.
Mr Albanese said Labor's plan for a Housing Australia Future Fund would see $10 billion invested through the Future Fund, with the interest to be invested in social housing.
"This is good policy, it makes sense and it will make a difference," Mr Albanese said.
Earlier, Labor campaign spokesman Jason Clare said the Coalition was hypocritical for criticising the $20 billion Rewiring the Nation Corporation plan to reform electricity infrastructure, and the $15 billion National Reconstruction Fund for new and emerging industries, and to transition existing industries to net zero emissions.
"They're doing exactly the same thing. What do you think the Clean Energy Finance Corporation is or the NBN? These are investments, not costs. They make money for the taxpayer. That's why they're treated like this in the budget," he said.
Mr Clare said the Housing Australia Future Fund was based on a model established by the NSW Coalition government.
"The model is the right one. The problem here is the lack of political will. The government doesn't want to do this because they don't think it's their job to build housing for homeless Aussies," he said.
As polling shows Labor leading the Coalition and on track for an election victory on May 21, a media report said the opposition's off-budget spending plans for climate change and affordable housing programs would grow national debt by $52 billion.
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Finance Minister Simon Birmingham seized on the report and said Mr Albanese was running a campaign that would push debt levels high.
"The problem with those bigger debts, bigger deficits, bigger spending from Labor is it equals more pressure on inflation, more pressure on interest rates, a greater risk of higher taxes," he said.
Speaking to journalists later in Adelaide, Mr Albanese was asked about comments from former prime minister John Howard saying a civil nuclear industry was "inevitable" for Australia following the AUKUS deal for nuclear submarines.
Mr Albanese said Mr Howard's comments were wrong.
"The advice and part of the decision-making process in the briefings that we had about AUKUS - that included Senator [Penny] Wong and Richard Marles and Brendan O'Connor - were that you didn't need a domestic civil nuclear industry in order to support the nuclear submarines," he said.