Shadow Treasurer Jim Chalmers has been forced to fend off accusations Labor has promised a spending blitz on projects favouring marginal electorates.
The defence came after the Sydney Morning Herald reported the party’s spending has strongly favoured marginal seats, with an estimated $750 million invested.
The projects, such as sporting clubs, pools and roads, were identified through Labor's official statements as well as Facebook posts and Youtube videos.
But Dr Chalmers has denied the spending amounts to a pork barrelling campaign to win over voters ahead of the election.
“I don't accept that we are,” Dr Chalmers told reporters.
“The commitments that we take to this election are responsible, they're developed in conjunction with other levels of government and important local stakeholders.
“They are committed on the basis of local community need and not other considerations.”
Labor has also indicated that all spending proposals would be put to the Department of Infrastructure to review their merit, if Labor formed government.
The scrutiny comes after the Morrison government itself two years ago faced a scathing report from the Australian National Audit Office (ANAO) over its targeting of marginal electorates through the Community Sports Infrastructure Grants program (CSIG).
The ANAO found a disproportionate number of grants were awarded to clubs in marginal Coalition seats, or electorates the government was hoping to snatch at the May 2019 poll.
Labor has consistently seized on accusations of pork-barrelling in its political attacks against the government.
Finance Minister Simon Birmingham on Tuesday accused Labor of hypocrisy, saying it had acted in "exactly the same" manner as the government on spending decisions.
“What we can see from the spending binge by Labor in marginal seats is rank hypocrisy,” he told the ABC.
"The Labor Party needs to clarify: Are these local promises, real promises they will deliver to the communities or are they trying to lead local communities and voters in marginal votes up the garden path with promises they don't actually intend to deliver?"
Dr Chalmers denied there was a parallel between Labor’s spending promises across dozens of electorates and those of the government.
“We won’t be taking lectures from the most wasteful government since federation,” he said.
“This is a government which has pored over colour-coded spreadsheets, sprayed around billions to suit their political purposes.”
Through its CSIG program the government used a colour-coded spreadsheet, which highlighted projects based on what electorate they were in.
Opposition Leader Anthony Albanese needs to gain just eight seats to form a government during the upcoming election, to be held by late May.
The largest spending pledges identified were for multimillion-dollar road projects.
This included projects in the electorate of McEwen, north of Melbourne, and the electorate of Corangamite, south of Geelong.
