Australia 'was heading for a Greek-style future'

Labor has hit out at the Prime Minister after he compared Greece's dire economic state to the direction of our economy under the Labor Government.

In a radio interview with 2SM, Abbott told host Grant Goldman that under his leadership 'things are better and getting better all the time.'

When Goldman commented that Australia now has the same level of debt that Greece had when they received a warning from the International Monetary Fund in 1987, Abbott was quick to assign blame.

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"Under the former Labor government we were heading to a Greek-style economic future," Abbott said. "But that's off the agenda now."

Labor's treasury spokesman, Chris Bowen, criticised the Prime Minister for making such scaremongering comments.

"The Prime Minister and the Treasurer just don't get it – when they use this inflammatory and irresponsible language they do the real damage to confidence in Australia," he told Fairfax.

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Abbott's disparaging comment came during an interview in which he explained that his government would return the budget to balance within five years.

"Yes there is a budget repair task still ahead of us, but we, the Coalition Government, aren't going to repair our budget this year at the expense of your family household budget," Abbott said.