Treasurer Josh Frydenberg insists the foundations of the Australian economy are strong in the face of domestic and international challenges.
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But in a week that saw the Australian share market suffer a massive $60 billion one-day sell-off as fears of recession swirled the global economy, Mr Frydenberg is standing firm on the need to retain the aim of a surplus.
"Bringing the budget back to surplus is important because you do need to pay down debt when you are able to do so and for 12 years Australia been denied a budget surplus and its time we had one," he told Sky News on Saturday.
But he said the government does recognise there are challenges both domestically and internationally, particularly with the trade dispute between the the US and China.
"We'll continue to pursue the policies we have in place - tax cuts, infrastructure spending, new apprenticeships," the treasurer said.
However, the Reserve Bank has repeatedly urged the government to do more, conceding there is only so much the central bank can do in terms of cutting interest rates.
Labor frontbencher Jason Clare said the share market sell-off ripped $60 billion out of people's superannuation accounts, proving the trade war is real and is having an impact here.
"This is a real war with real costs," he told ABC television..
"We do need to make sure we take the necessary action to combat that."
But he says that doesn't mean giving up on a surplus given the government has forecast a $7 billion surplus for this financial year, leaving it with sufficient capacity to bring forward infrastructure projects.
He says while the government has $100 billion worth of infrastructure spending planned for the next decade, most of it is at the back end of that period.
Senior Nationals minister Darren Chester admits the government needs to find partners among the states to speed up the infrastructure spending, noting Victoria had been particularly slow in getting on board with projects.
He also noted that the drought is "knocking around" regional Australia.
"So to maintain economic growth in a period where there is extreme drought in large parts of Australia is a good effort," Mr Chester told ABC television.
Australian Associated Press