Arthur Sinodinos (NSW, Liberal Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary Assisting the Leader of the Opposition) Share this | Hansard source

My question is to the Minister representing the Treasurer, Senator Wong. The minister would be aware that market reaction to the budget was negative with the Aussie dollar quickly falling half a cent within a few hours. It slipped below 99 cents. I ask whether the minister is aware of this comment by UBS strategist Matthew Johnson:

Accounting for the cyclically high terms of trade, Australia has the weakest of the 'structural' fiscal balances in the AAA club.

He argues that the failure to plan for the inevitable decline in commodity prices is 'symptomatic of broad policy failure.' NAB's head of global research, Peter Jolly, has commented that 'the budget, with only a slow crawl back to surplus, hasn't improved the relative positioning of Australia amongst the eight AAA rated nations.'