Peter Dutton uses federal budget reply speech to attack government’s ‘missed opportunity’ to help Australians in need

Opposition leader Peter Dutton delivers the budget in reply. The Coalition says the Labor government should have done more for those struggling with the cost of living. Photograph: Mike Bowers/The Guardian

The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, has put cost of living concerns at the centre of his budget in reply speech, accusing Labor’s budget of being a “missed opportunity” to help Australians in need.

In the set-piece speech in Canberra on Thursday night, Dutton also targeted Labor over energy policy, and framed a new debate over the school curriculum, saying parents were worried about “radical gender theory” and the teaching of a “sanitised” version of history.