Former treasurer Swan lashes out at BCA

Former Labor treasurer Wayne Swan has lashed out at criticism of Labor spending from the outgoing head of the Business Council of Australia - calling Tony Shepherd an unthinking mouthpiece for the Liberal Party.

Mr Shepherd's farewell speech to BCA members on Thursday said Australia had been losing competitiveness on many fronts and was less competitive than the United States in a number of sectors.

He said he looked forward to seeing the Commission of Audit report published because he believes the former Labor government should be held to account for the budgetary decisions they made.

"The long-term commitments, entrenched and legislated into future budget cycles that they must have known Australia couldn't afford on any reasonable projections. Major programs with growth rates way above projected growth in CPI, GDP and tax revenue," Mr Shepherd's speech says on the BCA website.

Mr Swan took umbrage at the "ill-informed comments", saying on Friday that Mr Shepherd was out of touch with mainstream Australia if he thought the National Disability Insurance Scheme or the Gonski education reforms were a waste of money.

"If Tony Shepherd wanted to offer a genuine critique of government decisions, instead of acting as an unthinking mouthpiece for the Liberal Party, then he might have mentioned the insanity of (Prime Minister) Tony Abbott's $5.5 billion paid parental leave scheme, which will smash the budget, increase taxes on Australian businesses and do nothing to boost national productivity," Mr Swan said in a statement.