Senate must pass Budget in entirety: PM

The federal budget must be passed in its entirety and the Senate must tell the
government if it will give it full support, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd says.
Speaking the morning after Treasurer Wayne Swan delivered a $58 billion deficit
budget, Mr Rudd said the government must ensure that its policies to boost the
economy can be backed up with bi-partisan support.
"These decisions are really, really tough," Mr Rudd told Fairfax Radio Network on
Wednesday.
"We believe we have a mandate from the Australian people to serve out our full term
but it is really important, absolutely important, that this budget is passed in its
entirety.
"We must ensure that our actions to support the economy now and jobs and
infrastructure investment, and our pensions and payments on parental leave are
supported by the $22 billion in savings.
"That's why it is important, because of the Senate, for us to know whether we have
full support, and what on earth is their confused position on temporary borrowing
and temporary deficit."
Mr Rudd avoided saying he had broken pre-election promises with the changes in
superannuation, saying instead the government had not been able "to fulfil policy
commitments".
"We've had the biggest single hit in our national income and in tax revenue to the
Australian government since the Great Depression," Mr Rudd said.
"It's created some fundamental thinking, not just in our government, but in all
governments around the world, and we've had to make tough decisions."
He defended the government's changes to superannuation saying it would mainly affect
those in upper pay ranges - people earning an average of $221,000 per year or 1.8
per cent of the population.
He said the overwhelming benefits of the arrangement brought in by the Howard
government assisted those at the very top of the income range.
He said the government had to provide sustainable reforms for everybody in order to
pay for such things as pension increases.
Earlier, Mr Rudd welcomed the three major ratings agencies' approval of the federal
budget.
The three major ratings agencies on Tuesday night said the budget for the next
financial year did not threaten Australia's triple A credit rating as the country's
finances remain sound.
Standard & Poor's (S&P), Moody's Investors Services and Fitch Ratings all agreed
that the budget for 2009/10, which projected the budget would not return to surplus
for at least six years, raised no major concerns.
S&P said its highest rating for Australia's sovereign credit rating wasn't
threatened as public sector finances supported the rating and compared favourably
with Australia's peers.
"We believe the deficits and associated borrowings do not alter the sound profile of
the country's public finances," S&P credit analyst Kyran Curry said in a statement.
The government has forecast an underlying cash deficit of $57.59 billion for 2009/10
- representing 4.9 per cent of gross domestic product (GDP) - following a deficit of
$32.11 billion in 2008/09.
The forecast was in line with financial market expectations and represents a blow
out of $22 billion in the budget since the government's last forecast in February,
and will likely be the biggest deficit on record.
Mr Rudd on Wednesday said the opinion of the ratings agencies should be respected.
"Can I just say look carefully at what the credit rating agencies said this
morning," he told Sky News.
"They are a tough bunch of customers, Standard and Poor's.
"They've gone through the budget in detail and that's their conclusion."