Stephen Conroy (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Deputy Leader of the Government in the Senate) Share this | Hansard source

I thank Senator Macdonald for what may be the first question he has ever asked me in question time. As I said earlier this week in response to a question, in MYEFO the government is forecasting a modest surplus; however, as I have also said, as global conditions deteriorate that position will become tougher and tougher. Let me reiterate that the Rudd government remains committed to taking whatever action is necessary to strengthen growth and limit the impact of the global recession on Australian jobs.

Our strategy is to run budget surpluses on average over the medium term and to allow the automatic stabilisers in the budget to do their job. This is the position of a responsible government. MYEFO made it clear that the global financial crisis and the recession that has resulted have taken $40 billion off the budget surplus over the forward estimates. MYEFO is a reminder that, notwithstanding the sound state of our economy and the regulatory framework that underpins it, our budget is not immune from the global financial crisis, which has delivered a global recession and budget deficits all around the world. To put it into context for those opposite, some of the largest economies in the world are forecasting budget deficits in 2009. Specifically, the following countries have forecast budget deficits—at the stated shares of GDP—in 2009: the United States, minus 4.6— (Time expired)