The Coalition Government has attacked the Australian Labor Party's (ALP) plans to use the Future Fund to finance infrastructure projects.
Parliamentary Secretary to the Treasurer Chris Pearce slammed the ALP's policy to fund an improved broadband network using money from the Future Fund.
He accused it of raiding the country's savings and committing the worst fiscal crime.
"The ALP have no economic credentials," he said in response to shadow treasurer Wayne Swan's speech to the Sydney Institute on Tuesday where he outlined Labor's economic vision for the future.
"Mr Swan promised the Future Fund would be a 'locked box'. Now he is raiding it before the ALP is even elected.
Everyone knows the first raid on one's savings is always the hardest, but then it becomes easier on each occasion after that. After time, there are no savings left.
The ALP are committing the worst fiscal crime of all - that of theft from future generations."
In his speech, Swan stressed the importance of establishing a high speed broadband connection in order for Australia to compete with the rest of the world.
Under a Labor government, he said, this and other infrastructure projects would be funded by the Future Fund.
"Now that we know that the Future Fund will be able to comfortably meet public sector superannuation liabilities without the need for additional payments from the surplus after next year, it makes perfect economic sense to invest a small proportion of its funds in excess of those needed to meet the public sector liabilities to boost future productivity and wealth," he said.
