GREG JENNETT: Penny Wong, your leader Bill Shorten is saying that this is a great budget for millionaires, just not for battlers. Why then is Labor supporting almost all of it?

SENATOR PENNY WONG, LEADER OF THE OPPOSITION IN THE SENATE: Were not supporting almost all of it. And Bills right, it certainly was a good day for millionaires yesterday, they got a big tax cut. But 75 per cent of Australians didnt. What this Budget is, is a budget which continues to underfund our schools and our hospitals, it gives tax cuts to high income earners and has a ten year uncosted and unfunded company tax cut. Malcolm Turnbull was so desperate to give big business a tax cut he decided to redefine them as small business.

JENNETT: Alright, well pull that one apart in a moment, but superannuation, the anti-bracket creep personal income tax cut and the small business tax cut, they would all be centrepieces of this Budget and they are things that Labors supporting.

WONG: Lets deal with the last one first. The small business tax cut we have said, as weve previously been clear about, we are up for some tax relief for small business, but lets make it small business. Lets not pretend that big business has become small business just because the Prime Minister thinks thats easy to sell. So we will support, as Chris Bowen outlined last night, a reduction with businesses with turnover of $2 million, which is the small business definition.

JENNETT: But its where it goes beyond that that youve got problems with.

WONG: Exactly, we dont agree with that. We think that there are more important priorities for the nation at the moment, which include a Budget that is under pressure, making sure that we dont have an unfunded and uncosted company tax cut. And of course we think it is more importantto be investing money in ourschools and in our hospitals.

JENNETT: Now its notpublished, the full value over 10 years of creeping out company tax cut to allcompanies, but you'd have to thinkthat a number could be crunched, couldnt you? Into, what are you saying, many billions of dollars?

WONG: Theywould have had to have crunched that number. It does say something, doesnt it,that the Treasurer's centrepiece ofthis Budget, which is a company tax cut, is a cost that he won't tellanybody. This is from aparty who used to complain after wehad put out the costs of the Gonski package, won't even tellAustralians what this will costthem over the decade? Well, theyshould.

JENNETT: And you'll presumably have achance to try to tease that out ofofficials during the Estimatesprocess?

WONG: I think the Treasurershould stand up in Question Timeand tell people. I think that's alegitimate question forAustralians. How much tax is nownot going to be paid? What's thecost to all of us of this companytax cut? He says it is soimportant. He should be prepared todefend the cost of it, he should be prepared to tellAustralians what it is.

JENNETT: Now, anothermystery bag in there is thiscategory of decisions taken but notyet announced. Some are goodies butthere is also almost a $2 billion nasty sitting in there, a cut or a saveof some sort. Are you aware ofanything that is politicallysaleable in a campaign that's goingto claw back almost $2 billion?

WONG: Its a pretty lumpy budget line item, isnt it, thedecisions taken but not yetannounced? And as you say, there must be somenasties in it. Maybe they're savingthat up for the last week to try andhide it from everybody.

JENNETT: They appearto be. We don't quite know what theattraction of doing that in acampaign. But we'll find out.

WONG: Yes.

JENNETT: Work for theDole, did Labor feel over a longer period of time that it wasnt working and was in need of anoverhaul? Its been repackaged in this Youth Pathways Program.

WONG: We will obviously have a look atthat program. Obviously moreinvestment in young people isimportant, but there have been a numberof legitimate concerns raised aboutthe payment on the internshiprates. So I'm sure our shadowministers will look at that verycarefully. There is a lot to lookat this in this Budget. I think it isimportant to remember also that one ofthe things this Budget does is make sure MalcolmTurnbull backs in Tony Abbott'scuts of the 2014 Budget. Thats very clear.

JENNETT: There is a lot embedded and in higher education, we can talk about that another time. The clock thecounting down very much on you andyour Senate team, indeed, theentire Parliament. Do you actually think youll be voting on any of the measures, like the tax cut, before well you in the Senate go into Estimates as of tonight so what do you thinks going to happen with legislation?

WONG: If theGovernment was serious aboutlegislating any of this, theywouldn't be calling the doubledissolution. That's the reality, because you'd have to have anothersitting week. They want to go to an early election for thereasons they've outlined. We'refocused on that election and there'llbe a very clear difference betweenthe parties. One party that putspeople first, the Labor Party, aparty that will invest in schools, invest in our future, and a partythats putting a tax cut formillionaires and a tax cut for big companies ahead of schools andhospitals.

JENNETT: Im sure well hear a lot more of that in the weeks ahead. Penny Wong, thank you.

WONG: Good to be with you.