Party leader Phil Goff said there was no plan to protect jobs, no substance and no vision in it.
"This is a dishonest budget," he said.
"Tax cuts, personally guaranteed by Prime Minister John Key, have gone.
"And the biggest dishonesty is to talk about a commitment to superannuation because there won't be any money to pay for it -- they've taken away the certainty New Zealanders rely on."
Mr Goff said 1250 people lost their jobs last week and the Government had no idea how to help them.
Instead, the budget had been designed to placate and grovel to the international rating agencies.
Labour MPs gave Mr Goff a standing ovation but Prime Minister John Key didn't think much of his speech.
"They just want to spend money, they're a credit card opposition," he said. "And they're scaremongering. That's the worst kind of opposition."
Mr Key said it made no sense to load debt on future generations by borrowing billions to put into a superannuation fund which was there so that pensioners wouldn't have to borrow to survive.
He said the budget preserved every single benefit and there would be no pension cuts under National.
The Greens thanked the Government for the insulation scheme, which was their initiative, but co-leader Russel Norman found many problems with the rest of the budget.
"New Zealanders need some bold initiatives to tackle the twin environmental and economic crises -- not a budget that leads to less gain and more pain later," he said.
"There is no way the current economic crisis facing New Zealand will be solved by building more motorways."
ACT's finance spokesman, Sir Roger Douglas, lashed the Government for spending too much money.
"They suffer from the tyranny of the status quo -- more borrow and hope," he said.
Sir Roger said the tax cuts that had been scrapped would have cost the Government less than $1 billion.
"The Government needed to find just 1.5 percent of waste to deliver their tax cuts," he said.
"This is against a backdrop where government spending is, in real terms, $18 billion higher than it was nine years ago."
Progressive Party leader Jim Anderton said the budget was a weak response to the problems created by the international economic crisis.
"Governments around the world are investing in the future," he said.
"This one has slashed the future, this is the broken promise budget." Mr Anderton said huge cuts had been made in science and research, which was an economic disaster.
The budget debate was adjourned so the Government could put Parliament into urgency to pass legislation repealing the budget cuts.
The debate will continue next week.
