A crackdown on consultants will help fund the lion's share of Labor's $10 billion in election commitments, according to government pre-election costings released on Monday in a bid to pressure the Coalition to publish its own accounts.
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said the budget would be about $1 billion better off over four years compared to the March budget, which forecast more than $150 billion in deficits over the same period.
The updated figures include a claimed saving of $6.4 billion through reduced use of consultants, and $740 million in additional revenue from student visa application fees.
The savings come on top of $4 billion in offsets accounted for in last month's budget.
Released on the same day that one of the world's top ratings agency warned both sides of politics that spending roaring towards post-war highs could threaten Australia's coveted AAA rating, the figures again confirm the nation faces a decade of ongoing deficits caused by increased promises on welfare, military outlays and tax benefits.
"We call on the Coalition to release their costs and cuts immediately," Mr Chalmers told reporters in Brisbane on Monday.
"It is long past time for the Coalition to come clean on their secret cuts to pay for nuclear reactors.
"We've made it very clear what our costs are and how we will pay for the commitments that we have made in this election campaign."
Finance Minister Katy Gallagher said the government spent about $100 billion a year on procurement and contracts and that it saw "room to make further reductions in that area".
That suggests the savings on consultants announced on Monday would be equivalent to about 1.6 per cent of those outlays.
"That's a significant commitment and it shows that responsible economic management that we've brought to our budget processes," Senator Gallagher told ABC's Afternoon Briefing.
"We want to find further whole-of-government savings."
However, she added that they were "modest in the overall spending of government services".
"They don't affect programs or people, and that's a real contrast, I think, with what the opposition are saying, which is … in the order of $28 billion worth of cuts and 41,000 jobs they want to sack from the public services. We've taken a different approach."
Labor's demand for immediate Coalition costings follow the traditional political pantomime of election campaigns in their dying days. Three years ago Labor held off releasing its costings until the Thursday before polling day.
The Coalition has made a series of major spending and tax promises during and prior to the campaign, but has yet to reveal a full picture of its likely budget outcomes if it wins government.
Figures released by Labor's campaign claim the Coalition's election promises amount to more than $62 billion, including plans to allow mortgage interest deductions and fuel excise cuts.
Shadow Treasurer Angus Taylor said Labor's costings revealed it had "no plan for the budget and no plan for the economy".
"There is a better way. We can get this country back on track and that means we need to beat inflation by cutting waste and slashing red tape," he said.
Warnings that Australia's triple-A credit rating could be at risk
Ratings agency S&P warned Australia's AAA credit rating may be at risk if a swathe of spending promises lead to larger budget deficits and greater debt.
S&P analyst Anthony Walker said the budget is "already regressing to moderate deficits" as spending hits "post-war highs, global trade tensions intensify, and growth slows".
"How the elected government funds its campaign pledges and rising spending will be crucial for maintaining the [triple-A] rating," he wrote in a note on Monday.
S&P also cautioned that the increased use of "off-budget" funds for investment in projects such as the NBN and clean energy is "increasingly obfuscating" Australia's budget position and borrowing needs.
Mr Chalmers said Labor has "demonstrated" in Monday's costings that it has "found the room for our election commitments".
"The budget is stronger at the end of the campaign than it was at the beginning."
He said the biggest risk to the triple-A rating "is Peter Dutton and the Coalition".
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