After the last budget, I remember asking how a budget could be so devoid of vision. And here we are again. This government has handed down a budget—on the eve of an election, no less—and there is still no great ambition, no agenda, no plan for the future. This government's legacy will be a wasted decade for Australia. We could be resetting and rebuilding a stronger, fairer economy after the pandemic, but instead we've got nothing—a political patch job which is more about saving the Prime Minister's job than those of Australians.

Australians will see through the momentary sugar hits in this budget. Cost-of-living pressures are on the rise, but wages are stagnant. Wages growth has fallen every year under this government. The government never talk about wages, and they have no plan to address this. There is nothing in this budget for the appallingly low wages of aged-care workers, who do some of the most important work and lowest paid work in our society.

Australians want action on climate change and a federal integrity commission—nothing in this budget. The government thinks a one-off cash payment will make Australians forget its incompetence and mismanagement. But they won't, because that payment won't go anywhere near what Australians have lost in their wages over the last decade. There's a cash splash before the election and at least $3 billion of secret cuts after, and, just like Scott Morrison in a crisis, these cash bribes will disappear.