Senator WONG (South Australia—Minister for Finance and Deregulation) (14:55): I thank the good Senator for her question and welcome the first opportunity for a question on the economy, because we have not seen one from those opposite. I think that all Australians are aware of the serious risks which are in the global economic outlook; but we should also be aware that, despite the impact of ongoing global turbulence on our economy and on our budget, Australia's public finances are amongst the strongest in the world. Despite all the efforts of those opposite to trash the economy and to talk down the economy, which is hardly in the interests of working people, I remind those opposite what the IMF said in January of this year. Mr Jorg Decressin of the IMF said: There is no advanced economy—or maybe there are one or two—that is as well placed as Australia in order to combat a deeper slow down, were such a slowdown to materialise, and that's because you still have room to cut interest rates if that was necessary and you also have a very strong fiscal position. This is what the IMF have said. Those opposite might like to suggest that somehow the IMF are a bunch of reds under the bed and that somehow they are just parroting the Labor government line, but I think that sensible people, sensible commentators and unbiased listeners will know that the IMF are speaking the truth. We know that our public finances are amongst the strongest in the world, and we are determined to bring the budget back to surplus. That stands in stark contrast to the complete disarray of those opposite. We had the shadow finance minister last night walking away from the surplus in the first term of a Liberal government. How embarrassing! (Time expired) Opposition senators interjecting—