Wayne Swan (Lilley, Australian Labor Party, Treasurer) Share this | Hansard source

MYEFO showed that the global financial crisis has reduced government revenues over the forward estimates by about $40 billion, and of course events in the global economy since then will have had a further impact on those estimates. That is obvious to everybody in the House, and of course the outlook for trade and the outlook for commodity prices have both taken a turn for the worse again in recent weeks, so that will have an impact on the budget bottom line. There is no doubt about that. The point that the Prime Minister made is that we must take every action we possibly can to strengthen our economy in the face of these global events to protect jobs. This government will do everything it can responsibly do to strengthen our economy—as we have done through the Economic Security Strategy—and to have monetary policy supporting fiscal policy, and we will take further actions if necessary to support Australian jobs and Australian growth.

See this speech in context