THE federal coalition has promised budget savings of $46.7 billion if it wins government.
The coalition would also initiate an independent review of the Trade Practices Act with a view to boosting Australia's productivity.
Opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey today detailed the opposition's response to last week's federal budget in a speech to the National Press Club in Canberra.
Mr Hockey promised hard decisions from the coalition to get the budget back into the black.
He signalled it would have savings of $46.7 billion over four years, coming from both recurrent and capital expenditure.
The detail was released after the speech in a separate document.
"There are hard decisions there,'' Mr Hockey said.
"Returning the budget to surplus will require tough decisions, but making tough decisions is a necessary part of good government.''
According to the coalition document, the savings are made up of $24.7 billion from recurrent spending and $22 billion of one-off capital savings to pay down debt - from the sale of Medibank Private and cancelling the national broadband network.
Much of the coalition's savings plan would come from cutting Rudd government expenditure.
It will abolish the 50 per cent discount on savings interest income, saving $950 million.
As flagged, the coalition will bin the mining super profits tax, meaning it will dump a cut in the company tax rate and other measures linked to it.
The company tax rate cuts will save $2.3 billion.
Releasing a policy document after Mr Hockey's speech, finance spokesman Mr Robb said the coalition rejected Labor's tax and spend approach for managing the economy.
"The massive savings plan is just the beginning,'' he said.
"Further savings will be announced ahead of the election to demonstrate how Australia's financial accounts can return to the black, without resorting to major new taxes which strangle growth.''
If elected, the coalition would focus on boosting productivity, Mr Hockey said.
"On election the coalition would undertake a comprehensive and independent review of the Trade Practices Act from 1974 including all aspects of competition arrangements in Australia,'' he said.
"Unlike current government reviews this will be chaired by an eminent Australian independent of the public service.''
More details would be announced in coming days, Mr Hockey said.
"The outcomes we want will be focused on giving small business a fair go, we want farmers to have their concerns about downstream pricing addressed,'' he said.
The review would also aim to give greater clarity around misleading and deceptive conduct, a clear market focus, clarity for consumers, and a new competition policy framework.
This would mean a genuinely market-based approach, and a "clean, clear, fair and transparent framework'', in areas such as energy supply.
Mr Hockey said a coalition government would undertake a national audit of capital stock, with a particular focus on upgrading existing infrastructure rather than building new facilities.
That would include multi-use sporting facilities through to shared utility infrastructure.
"I believe we can significantly improve the productivity of existing capital stock without the need to build everything new for ribbon-cutting ceremonies by politicians,'' he said.
While the coalition remained firmly against more regulation of the financial system, current safeguards could be improved, Mr Hockey said.
"In particular, we will revisit the FSR (Financial Services Regulation) Act and ensure that product disclosure statements are simpler and smaller.''
The coalition would also seek to reform corporate law to ensure ``short-form prospectuses really are short''.
Mr Hockey said the coalition's already-announced savings measures would save the budget $46.7 billion over four years, in combined recurrent and capital expenditure.
A detailed statement outlining the savings measures would be released later on Wednesday by the opposition's finance spokesman Andrew Robb.
"There are hard decisions there,'' Mr Hockey said.
Returning the budget to surplus will require tough decisions, but making tough decisions is a necessary part of good government.''
Mr Hockey said Infrastructure Australia - a planning body set up by the Rudd government - would be given a more meaningful role.
The $700 billion capital for infrastructure shortfall identified by Infrastructure Australia's inaugural chairman, Sir Rod Eddington, was simply beyond the capacity of government to fill.
"It is also wrong for the government to fill,'' he said.
Mr Hockey said he was concerned the government's finances were unsustainable.
"If the government, with its AAA (credit) rating, continues to borrow on average around $100 million every day in competition with the private sector ... small business ... mortgage brokers and the banks ... then ultimately the cost of borrowing for others will be higher,'' he said.
Policies such as emissions trading and the planned resources super profits mining tax had made sovereign risk an issue for investors.
"Government's must reduce sovereign debt and we must reduce sovereign risk of we want precious investment dollars.''
Mr Hockey said there was a gradual realisation of the resource and environmental constraints on economic development.
"Sustainability is receiving increasing attention because of a growing sense that the current path of business practice and economic development cannot continue indefinitely,'' he said.
"There is also an appreciation that economic development has social costs in terms of congestion, food security and social harmony just to name a few.''
The coalition believed government policies must lead to a sustainable Australia.
"Economic growth can be achieved in such a way so that it does not involve the depletion of non-renewable resources,'' Mr Hockey said.
"And so that it does ensure socially beneficial outcomes.''
The shadow treasurer repeated former prime minister John Howard's assertion before the 2004 election that interest rates would always be lower under a coalition government.
"Interest rates will always be lower under the coalition because we are prepared to run surplus budgets and we are prepared to do the hard yards to put downward pressure on interest rates.''
It was a statement that came back to haunt Mr Howard after Labor used it to attack the then coalition government during the 2007 election campaign.
Mr Hockey pointed out that interest rates were determined by the Reserve Bank of Australia.
"But the best way to take away some of the upward pressure in interest rates at the moment is to get the budget back to surplus as quickly as possible.''
Mr Hockey said the second stimulus package should have been closer to $15-20 billion rather than $42 billion.
But he suggested the government chose to build school halls because they were cheaper than classrooms.
"If they were really committed to jobs, why didn't they emphasise that in government schools they would build classrooms, not school halls?
"The reason why they committed to school halls is because if they built classrooms they'd have to put teachers in them.''
Mr Hockey said the second stimulus package should have been closer to $15-20 billion rather than $42 billion.
But he suggested the government chose to build school halls because they were cheaper than classrooms.
"If they were really committed to jobs, why didn't they emphasise that in government schools they would build classrooms, not school halls?
"The reason why they committed to school halls is because if they built classrooms they'd have to put teachers in them.''
Mr Hockey said any spending promises made before the election would be offset in savings.
"There'll need to be further savings,'' he said, adding the coalition reserved the right to change and restructure, in power, a number of the Rudd government's existing programs.
The government had also "buried'' in the budget about $16 billion in contingency reserves.
