Mr Morrison visited Adelaide on Monday to commit funds to the Darlington Upgrade road project in the city's south and will visit other cities this week to pledge faster spending on projects.

A key government claim is that its spending for this year and next has swollen by $9.5 billion since the election as the result of legislated tax cuts worth $7.2 billion,drought assistance worth $550 million and infrastructure promises worth $1.8 billion.

The Rudd government boosted the economy with $10.4 billion of stimulus in October 2008,including direct payments to pensioners and families that were mostly paid within three months – a much tighter timeframe than the Morrison government plan.

Mr Morrison says in the draft speech,to be delivered to the Business Council of Australia in Sydney on Wednesday night,that his plan over four years avoids the"wasteful"aspects of the Labor stimulus. Over four years,he says,the government's tax relief is worth $19.5 billion.

"This was no desperate,one off,short-term sugar hit or panicked crisis measure,here today,gone tomorrow,"Mr Morrison says of his cuts to personal income tax rates. "Our response to the economic challenges our nation faces has been a structural investment in Australian aspiration."

Treasurer Josh Frydenberg has warned of "headwinds" that could slow growth but is insisting on the need to produce abudget surplus in the mid-year fiscal update in December to prepare for longer-term challenges like the ageing of the population.

Mr Chalmers said the government was presiding over the slowest growth in a decade,stagnant wages,record household debt,higher unemployment and poor business investment figures.

"What we've proposed is that the federal government should bring forward some infrastructure investment and part of stage two of their tax cuts,"he said.

Mr Chalmers also called on the government to"responsibly"increase Newstart and offer a tax break for business investment.