Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. And of course, on the question of net debt, presumably the basis of the question being asked by those opposite is their concern about the overall assessment by international credit-rating agencies. I draw to the attention of those opposite, in their desperate attempt to talk the Australian economy down, that Standard and Poor’s, the international rating agency, said just after the budget was released a week or so ago that Australia’s AAA rating was reaffirmed. Those opposite then disappeared at a thousand miles an hour, realising that their core political attack in fact had no basis in substance whatsoever, because they knew that they were engaged in a negative scare campaign—a fear campaign with one objective, which was to talk the Australian economy down.

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