FEDERAL Finance Minister Penny Wong says the government has proven its fiscal discipline and is on track to deliver a budget surplus in 2012/13.
Falling commodity prices and economic contraction in Asia have prompted doubts that Labor can keep its promise to deliver a surplus next year.
Senator Wong said the government responded to the revenue downgrades by finding $16 billion of savings in its budget update released last month.
"I think that shows our discipline, our fiscal discipline, and it shows the approach we take," she told ABC television on Sunday.
The government's mid-year economic and fiscal outlook also showed it was "on-track" to return to surplus, she said.
"Over the forward estimates those surpluses continue to grow," Senator Wong said.
Treasurer Wayne Swan conceded that "frail global conditions" were weighing on Australia's economy.
"This was clear with the almost $22 billion write-down in government revenues made between the budget and last month's mid-year review," Mr Swan said in his weekly economic note on Sunday.
Mr Swan, who will meet his US counterpart, Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner, this week in Washington, warned that international economic events could quickly spill across borders.
"Flows of capital can surge or dry up almost overnight," Mr Swan said.
"Business and consumer confidence in one place can sway sentiment in another."
Despite some encouraging data in recent weeks, economic recovery in the US was still shaky, he said.
But Australia faced these global challenges from a position of strength, with the long-term prospects for the region remaining bright, Mr Swan added.
"We have an enviable combination of solid growth, low unemployment, contained inflation and low debt, with the budget returning to surplus ahead of every major advanced economy," Mr Swan said.
But opposition finance spokesman Andrew Robb said it was embarrassing to hear Senator Wong speaking of the government's "supposed fiscal discipline".
"If Labor was serious about offsetting spending why has its spending outstripped revenue by $173 billion since coming to office?" he said in a statement.
"Why did it deliver a $43 billion deficit in 2011/12 off the back of a mining boom and the strongest terms of trade in 150 years?"
Meanwhile, former prime minister Kevin Rudd has said he supports the government's "stated position on the desirability of the return to surplus".
Australia faced "very challenging fiscal challenges", with revenue not growing as much as the government would have liked, Mr Rudd told Sky News on Sunday.
"Discipline on our fundamental national accounts is important, otherwise we will be seen to be not as rigorous in the international community."
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