Queensland Premier Campbell Newman called for an emergency meeting of state and federal governments, saying Abbott had not been transparent about what he termed “unacceptable cuts”.
Labor has vowed to vote against some of the government’s decisions, including a Aus$7 payment to see the doctor and the raising of the pension age.
The party’s treasury spokesman Chris Bowen said while a medical research fund was a good idea, it should not be funded by a fee charged at the doctor’s door.
“It should not be funded by Australia’s sick and vulnerable people,” he told Sky News, adding that Labor would also oppose raising the pension age to 70.
“Not one country in the OECD has a pension age of 70,” he said.
The budget also reduces foreign aid by Aus$7.9 billion over five years, shaves funding to the Australian Broadcasting Corporation and makes petrol more expensive thanks to a rise in a fuel levy.
Thousands of public service jobs will go in the next three years while scores of government agencies will be abolished or amalgamated.
Question time in parliament was dominated by the budget, with Abbott forced to fend off questions about whether his promises of no new taxes amounted to deceit.
“After six years of dysfunction, the people of Australia were looking for some leadership,” Abbott told parliament.
“They were looking for a government that was prepared to make not the easy decisions but the hard decisions.”
