Prime Minister Julia Gillard says the opposition is being "deeply irresponsible" by talking down the Australian economy while markets are skittish over the European debt crisis.
Federal coalition finance spokesman Andrew Robb told The Australian newspaper on Tuesday that growth in Australia's indebtedness since Labor came to power had been outstripped only by Iceland and Ireland.
Mr Robb said the nation's structural deficit as a percentage of gross domestic product (GDP) was more than double that of Germany, worse than Italy's and on a par with France's.
But touring the Ford car-making plant in Melbourne on Tuesday, Ms Gillard said Mr Robb was "engaging in deeply irresponsible conduct".
"We are at time in the global economy where there is volatility out of the eurozone," she said.
"That means that markets are skittish. That means it's an incredibly dangerous time for people to be spruiking nonsense about the Australian economy, and that's what Mr Robb has been doing: talking our economy down."
Ms Gillard said the Labor government had achieved what the Howard government had failed to do - gain a triple-A credit rating from all three major agencies.
"For Mr Robb, trying to run around and say the Australian economy is in same state as European economies is simply wrong," Ms Gillard said.
Ms Gillard was in Melbourne to talk about the $34 million investment in improving the performance of the Ford Falcon and the Ford Territory.
The funding guarantees the Falcon will be produced at Broadmeadows in Melbourne until at least the end of 2016.
