Stimulus here till growth recovers: Swan

The federal government has again rejected opposition calls to withdraw its stimulus,
insisting the measures will remain until economic growth returns to pre-crisis
levels.
A Group of 20 (G20) meeting of finance ministers in London has agreed stimulatory
fiscal policies and low interest rates should stay until a recovery is secured.
Labor says the endorsement leaves Opposition Leader Malcolm Turnbull isolated on his
call to pull back on spending.
Treasurer Wayne Swan said stimulus measures would remain until Australia's economic
growth pace returned to where it was before the onset of the global financial
crisis.
"We've got in place a medium-term fiscal strategy so that when growth returns to
trend ... we will be applying that expenditure cut," he told ABC Television on
Sunday.
In technical terms, Mr Swan wants trend growth - a long-run measure of annual gross
domestic product expansion - to be at three per cent.
Australia has not enjoyed annual economic growth of more than three per cent since
early 2008, before the worst of the global crisis set in.
While the local economy appears to have avoided recession, Mr Swan said business
investment was still weak and argued the economy would be shrinking without the
stimulus.
"Many credible economists agree that ripping the stimulus out early would mean even
higher unemployment and leave business in the lurch," the treasurer said in a weekly
economic note.
Unconvinced by that argument, Mr Turnbull has called on Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to
plan a stimulus exit strategy.
"What Kevin Rudd has done is set off on a reckless spending program which will put
upward pressure on interest rates," he told the Nine Network.
"He has to have a plan for an exit strategy and ... an exit strategy from this
period of high-spending and high-borrowing."
Three hours after Mr Turnbull's television appearance, Small Business Minister Craig
Emerson said the opposition leader's call to wind back the stimulus isolated him
from international opinion and Western Australia's Liberal Treasurer Troy Buswell.
"He is isolated, he has not been able to name one credible source supporting his
plan to withdraw the stimulus," Mr Emerson told reporters in Canberra.
The Australian Greens, who backed the government's $42 billion stimulus package, now
want it reviewed.
"The Greens don't want to see unnecessarily an increased debt at the end of this
process which, of course, has ramifications for taxpayers and services," party
leader Bob Brown told Network Ten.
"It's time to have a raincheck, and it's time to get the Treasury officers back
before the Senate to have a review."
Stimulus package architect, Treasury secretary Ken Henry, should appear before a
Senate committee so the public can reassess whether a "full-on" continuation of the
programs was justified, Senator Brown said.
Even though Australia has skirted recession, the economy grew by an annual pace of
just 0.6 per cent in the June quarter.
Treasury doesn't expect the economy to return to three per cent growth levels until
2011.
But the government's insistence on maintaining its stimulus measures could be tested
if Treasury's Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook, due by November, revises its
forecasts to predict stronger growth sooner.
Key barometers of economic health - consumer sentiment, retail spending and
unemployment - are all due out this week.
More than likely, the government will use any good news to vindicate its stimulus.
For the opposition, a healthy set of numbers will be evidence the stimulus isn't
needed.