Government frontbencher Bill Shorten has described the federal budget reply speech by Opposition Leader Peter Dutton as "a show bag of slogans and Band-Aids".
The pair were involved in a fiery exchange on Today this morning after the Opposition outlined its response to the budget in parliament yesterday.
Shorten, Minister for the NDIS and Government Services, took aim at Dutton's plan to drastically slash international student numbers and a two-year ban for foreign investors purchasing property.
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"We're on track to halve the net overseas migration number from where it was in the peak of last year ... I understand what it's like to be an opposition leader to give the budget reply ... but Peter's, I have to say, it was a pretty lightweight presentation."
Shorten also pressed Dutton to put a figure on the number of foreigners buying Australian properties.
Shorten said: "You said we can not have those foreigners buying houses. Now that sort of sounds interesting. So I went and checked overnight. How many people in the last two years who are foreigners bought houses in Australia, Pete?"
Dutton replied: "Well, Bill, a couple of points, one is that we say that in the first year, 40,000 homes will be freed up. That includes the numbers who would be bidding at auctions this weekend against Australian citizens. That's the reality.
"If the government had adopted our policy over a five-year period, you would free up 325,000 homes. So the number of people who are foreign citizens, who are buying houses in our country is low, but nonetheless it contributes to an overall shortage of housing in our country."
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Shorten said he had "went and checked overnight" about the number of foreigners who had bought Australian properties over the past two years and said it was less than 5000.
Earlier Dutton insisted the "personal attacks" by government ministers on him showed his budget reply was cutting through with voters.
He also had a dig at Shorten's performance as opposition leader in the 2019 federal election when Labor was backed to win but fell short to the Scott Morrison-led Coalition.
"You just said before you didn't like personal attacks - as soon as you're under pressure, you go personal," Dutton said.
