The 2018 federal budget is an unprecedented wealth transfer to the top end of town.
GetUp National Director Paul Oosting said the Turnbull Government was gifting more than a quarter of a trillion dollars to corporations and high income earners, at the expense of everyone else.
“The government is robbing the poor to pay the rich, and at a time when inequality is already at record highs,” Mr Oosting said.
“Over the next decade, the richest companies in Australia get $80 billion and the wealthiest Australians - like politicians - will take home an estimated 75% of the Government’s $140 billion individual tax cuts.
"On top of this, polluting corporations get $7 billion every year in fossil fuel subsidies plus the Government has avoided charging the oil and gas giants for extracting our resources - a measure that could raise tens of billions of dollars.
“There's a lot of talk about low and middle income earners, but it's clear the Turnbull Government has no idea where the middle is.
"The Government has tried to deliver a crowd-pleaser budget, but ended up giving a quarter of a trillion dollars away to the top end of town instead.
“Meanwhile, the Turnbull Government is refusing to increase Newstart, doubling down on its cruel robo-debt scheme, cutting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders jobs programs, and delaying essential support to migrants. And there's no meaningful per-capita increase to spending on schools or hospitals.
"We are told this is a budget for middle Australia but it looks more like a budget to get donations from corporations and wealthy individuals.
“People will see straight through this. This is a budget with zero answers to the real problems people are facing," Mr Oosting said.
And, with the next federal election potentially just months away, the Government is escalating its attacks on those who hold it to account.
“Massive cuts to our ABC, the Administrative Appeals Tribunal and Human Rights Commission are a new low and yet more proof that this Government is desperate to undermine checks, balances, and transparency,” Mr Oosting said.