International ratings agency S&P has today reaffirmed Australia's AAA credit rating.
This is a resounding endorsement of the Albanese Labor Government's responsible economic management.
It shows that under Labor, Australia has one of the best budgets in the G20.
"Australia's fiscal performance is sound… Australia's economic outlook is sound." the report reads.
"Sound fiscal metrics support our 'AAA' long‑term sovereign credit rating on Australia.
"Excellent political and institutional settings are conducive to stable policymaking."
Responsible economic management is the hallmark of the Albanese Labor Government and S&P's report reinforces that.
S&P says Australia's debt is lower than that of most advanced economies and forecasts growth to pick up in the period ahead.
We've turned two big Liberal deficits into two substantial Labor surpluses in our first two years, significantly reduced the deficit in our third year, and continued to pay down debt.
The Budget is $209 billion better over the three years to 2024-25 than the one we inherited.
Added together, our three Final Budget Outcomes have delivered a cumulative underlying cash balance of +$28 billion, compared with the more than −$181 billion we inherited.
The better fiscal position means gross debt in 2024-25 was $188 billion lower than the one left to us, avoiding over $60 billion in interest costs over the 11 years to 2032-33.
The budget is in much better nick because we've paid down almost $200 billion of Liberal debt, demonstrated spending restraint, overseen the creation of more than 1.1 million jobs and got real wages growing again.
While we've delivered a substantial budget improvement, we recognise that structural pressures are intensifying rather than easing and that's why we're taking decisive action to address some of the biggest spending pressures on the budget.
We're delivering substantial reforms to the National Disability Insurance Scheme and aged care system, and we're paying down Liberal debt which is saving us tens of billions of dollars in interest payments.
Australia is one of only nine countries to be rated AAA by all three major credit rating agencies and this was achieved for the first time under the last Labor government.
We are realistic about the challenges facing our economy including growing global uncertainty, but our AAA rating is further proof Australia is coming at these challenges from a position of genuine economic strength.
We'll continue to do what we can to clean up the budget mess we inherited from the Coalition and to make our economy more productive and resilient.
