Swan rules out budget tweaks despite huge deficit and strong Aussie dollar
The Federal government is convinced that no necessary tweak should be forthcoming on the current budget, notwithstanding the latest Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, in which a reduction of $10 billion in revenues was outlined by Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan in a statement on Tuesday.
Mr Swan ruled out the possibility of any major decisions just because the rising Australian dollar is applying pressure on revenue targets of the federal government as he told ABC that "there are swings and roundabouts with the exchange rate," and not just the snapshot that everyone seems to be concerned about.
Also, Mr Swan belied the Coalition claims that the government was unwilling to dispense tough budget measures based on the just released MYEFO as he stressed that fiscal targets and discipline are well-positioned regardless of the Aussie dollar movements.
Basing on its latest projections, the federal government has effectively admitted of deeper deficits in the current financial year and the one immediately following it, while the targeted surplus further shrunk to $3.1 billion for fiscal 2013.
Finance Minister Penny Wong countered the opposition assertions that the Labor-led government is veering away from making any difficult budget decisions as she said on Wednesday that fiscal discipline entails many decisions and they could not be hinged on a single scenario.
Senator Wong told ABC that right after the national election in August, the federal government immediately shifted its spending gears and instituted significant cuts that she admitted had some effects on earlier commitments with the independent MPs.
However, opposition treasury spokesman Joe Hockey appeared unimpressed on Mr Swan's pronouncements that the Australian economy sits on a stronger foundation as compared to the major economies across the globe.
Mr Hockey insisted that despite its claims of a strong budget environment, tough decisions must be made by the federal government in order to save money and along that line, its cash for clunkers policy must be scrapped plus the tougher decision of trimming the staff numbers of the commonwealth's public service arms.
He added that with a budget deficit that runs to some $41 billion as of the last accounting, the federal government must implement tougher measures to save amidst the rising unemployment rate that recently reached 4.5 percent.