Scott Morrison has delivered a cutting response to David Koch after being asked about Australia's mounting debt, which will hit $1trillion by 2022.
The Sunrise host quizzed the prime minister on whether it was fair to leave future generations with such a huge debt to pay off.
'What do you say to the average Australians saying ''Are we just leaving this for our children? We're never going to get out of this'', Koch asked Mr Morrison on Wednesday.
But Mr Morrison fired back, saying: 'There will be nothing to leave to our children if we didn't act now, David.'
Tax cuts for 11 million workers, payments for five million welfare recipients and huge write-offs for 99 per cent of businesses - there hasn't been a budget cash splash like it in our lifetimes (Pictured: Workers at a building site in Sydney)
'This is the worst recession we've seen since the Great Depression. This is 45 times worse an impact on the global economy than we saw during the global financial crisis,' Mr Morrison said.
He said the government's response was scaled to the size of the challenge, which comes after the coronavirus pandemic hammered the economy and forced hundreds of thousands of Australians out of work.
'We've targeted (the spending), it's proportionate, it's scaleable and it's temporary. And that's to enable us to get back on our feet and get going again,' Mr Morrison said.
The prime minister appeared on Sunrise on Wednesday morning to discuss the Federal Budget, which will see a staggering $507billion in tax cuts, payments for five million welfare recipients and huge write-offs for 99 per cent of businesses.
The extraordinary response to the pandemic comes at a massive cost with the government forecasting a record budget deficit of $213billion and a gross debt of $870billion - worth 44 per cent of GDP – this year.
The figure will hit $1trillion – more than half of GDP – in June 2022.
At the heart of the Budget is a plan to fast-track personal income tax cuts, which were originally set to come into force in 2022. Instead, they will be backdated to July 2020 (Pictured: A family waiting for the light rail in Sydney)
'Our cherished lifestyle has been put on hold': Treasurer Josh Frydenberg unveiled his economic rescue plan t a half-empty, socially-distanced House of Representatives last night - which includes more than $500 billion in tax cuts, wage subsidies and cash payments
At the heart of the Budget is a plan to fast-track personal income tax cuts, which were originally set to come into force in 2022. Instead, they will be backdated to July 2020.
Workers will pocket a cash boost of up to $2,745 per year, with couples raking in up to $5,490.
Seven million Australians will pocket more than $2,000 in tax relief. Some will get much of it in their pay packets, others at tax time.
Mr Frydenberg also announced huge tax breaks for businesses, with 99 per cent of all companies allowed to completely write off new assets on the taxman for a year.
The Federal Budget announced Tuesday means workers will, by the end of the financial year, receive the following amount of tax relief on 2017-18 levels
Scott Morrison has delivered a cutting response to David Koch after being asked about Australia's mounting debt
The measure would allow a small business to buy a new computer, a farmer a new harvester and a trucking company a fleet upgrade, all on the Australian Tax Office.
Meanwhile, welfare recipients - including aged and disability pensioners, carers and family tax benefit recipients - will receive two one-off $250 payments in December and next March.
The suite of measures will aim to slow the soaring unemployment rate which is projected to hit eight per cent by Christmas before gradually falling to 6.25 per cent by June 2022.