Penny Wong (SA, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Finance and Deregulation) Share this | Hansard source

I would make a few points in response to Senator Joyce on this. The first is: notwithstanding the attempt by the coalition to distract attention by attacking the Treasury or attacking forecasts, I would remind the coalition that the very professional officers of the Treasury and the very professional officers of Finance are the same institutions—and, often, in many locations, the same individuals—who served Mr Costello and produced the forecasts for Mr Costello. But what the coalition would have you believe is that, magically, suddenly, the Treasury has become some hotbed of a Labor Party faction. Well, we on this side actually have some regard for the professionalism of the institution and think it is very unfair and inappropriate for the coalition to continue to attack the Treasury in the way that it is.

I think there were two questions. The first might have been in relation to nominal GDP, and I would make the point that the forecasts for nominal GDP are in fact: nominal GDP growth below trend and well below the 20-year average, and in fact the nominal GDP forecast has been reduced since the midyear review. In terms of the terms of trade, the forecasts in the budget are broadly in line with those of many major forecasters and show a decline over the forecast period, and of course there is an assumption about decline over the projection period.

I would refer the senator—or perhaps I can, in the supplementary—to a number of comments by market economists about the government forecasts. (Time expired)