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"What Labor is offering is an election bribe, as part of a big spending, big taxing, big election budget."
The Opposition's Treasury spokesman has slammed the government's economic outlook.
Angus Taylor describes the government's $17 billion tax cuts for all Australians over the next three years as a 'cruel hoax for the Australian people'.
It's a sentiment shared by others, with Greens leader Adam Bandt describing the tax cuts - a key budget measure - as a 'tiny tax tweak'.
"An extra 73 cents a day in 15 months' time won't help much when your rent has already gone up by hundreds of dollars while everyday people are being made to wait over a year to get a very small amount of extra tax cuts. Billionaires and big corporations are rolling in it right now."
Others have been critical of the government's key budget pledge - particularly its failure to include any increase to JobSeeker payments which has remained at $56 a day.
The Australian Council of Social Service's Cassandra Goldie says people experiencing poverty have pleaded with the government for years to improve social security payments.
"The centrepiece of the budget tonight is a promise of more tax cuts, which will go right up the income scale to help people on the very highest incomes in the country, and at the same time, we have nothing to help people with the very least."
Criticism of the government's economic measures also extend to its decision to scrap non-compete clauses for most Australian workers.
The measure means more than three million workers - including those in childcare, construction and hairdressing - will no longer be prevented from switching to better, higher-paying jobs.
But some are concerned about the effect of that on Australian businesses, as Australian Industry Group Chief Executive Innes Willox explains.
"Australian businesses, large and small, spend a tremendous amount of resources, hiring, engaging, training, and building up their staff, and to now risk having lost that and losing all the intellectual property that has been built up, is going to be a huge concern for Australian business. And we suspect that if this measure does go ahead, we will see an enormous amount of litigation, legal action, around around this measure."
But it isn't all bad news.
While the budget didn't offer any additions when it comes to childcare reform, advocates in the sector welcome the government's progress towards a universal childcare system, including three days of subsidised early childhood education.
Georgie Dent from The Parenthood described it as an historic investment.
"We know that when children have access to high quality early education and care, they do much better over the course of their lives. We believe that every child should be entitled to this opportunity. The federal government has made a commitment to ultimately building out a universal, high quality, early education and care system that is simple and affordable for families."
Those in the aged care sector also welcomed the $2.6 billion investment in further pay rises for aged care nurses - but are disappointed by an absence of investments to adapt to the new aged care act.
Tom Symondson is CEO of Ageing Australia.
"What we unfortunately did not see tonight is an investment in supporting the transition to our new Aged Care Act. We had called for investments in digital readiness, in making sure that our providers are ready to implement the new act on 1 July, and we'd also called for assistance to prepare themselves to take on huge numbers of new older people who are going to need care."
Young people also feel as though they are missing out - especially when it comes to less funding for youth allowance and a lack of cost of living relief.
Ashlyn Horden is the President of the National Union of Students.
"So if the government really wants to see 80 per cent of Australians have a tertiary qualification by 2050 they need to be thinking about the students who are currently having to think about their grumbling stomachs over their studies, the students who are lining up in what are essentially 21st century bread lines for food banks because they can't afford to feed themselves."
One thing that came as little surprise was the government's ongoing commitment to health investment, with $8.9 billion towards Medicare a key feature of the budget.
Dr Ramya Raman is Vice President of the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners.
She says while she welcomes the measures for training GPS and further investment in women's health, there are questions around the government's expectation for 90 per cent of appointments to be bulk-billed.
"We are calling on the government to consider longer consultations. We need to see patient Medicare rebates to be increased, as well as for mental health consultations, which we see very commonly in general practice. So we're calling on the government for increase in patient Medicare rebates, for longer consultations, for the complex and chronic needs of patients, as well as for mental health consultations, in increasing the patient Medicare rebates."
