Malcolm Turnbull has issued an emotional challenge to Labor and other MPs to pass his government's budget measures amid credit ratings agency pessimism about its path to surplus.
The prime minister says the challenge for incumbent politicians to fix the budget is a moral one, and not to leave it for their children and grandchildren.
"This moral issue of living within our means is absolutely paramount because we cannot keep on building up this mountain of debt to throw onto the shoulders of those for whom we should care the most," he told reporters in Adelaide on Tuesday.
Opposition Leader Bill Shorten accused Mr Turnbull of being all talk and no action.
"Inflated rhetoric from Malcolm Turnbull doesn't solve anything," he told Sky News from Jerusalem.
The mid-year budget update released on Monday sticks to Treasurer Scott Morrison's timeline to get the nation's finances back in the black by 2021 despite a deterioration in the interim.
The three major ratings agencies affirmed Australia's prized triple-A rating after the budget review was released.
But S&P Global Ratings remains "pessimistic" about the government's ability to reach a surplus in 2021, while Moody's says fiscal targets "will be difficult in an environment of weaker nominal GDP growth".
"They're entitled to their view, but the government will frame its policy on what's best for the Australian economy and what's best for the Australian people," Mr Morrison told ABC radio.
"Our fiscal plan remains on track."
The budget update shows a small improvement in this year's financial position from a deficit of $37.1 billion at the time of the May budget to $36.5 billion.
However, over the next three years the bottom line worsens by just under $11 billion.
By 2019/20 the deficit will still be $10 billion, yet modest surpluses are predicted beyond that.
Mr Morrison is clinging hard to the government's plan to offer business tax cuts.
But Labor still isn't keen on what it describes as a $50 billion "ram raid on the budget".
The treasurer wouldn't explicitly say whether he has spoken with his Labor counterpart about the tax cut, saying instead the government "continues to engage with everyone right across the parliament".
Mr Turnbull said the government had proven its capacity to negotiate its agenda through parliament: "We have secured one law through the Senate after another."
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen insisted Labor had shown in the past it could work with the government on things in the national interest.
"We do not believe the $50 billion corporate tax giveaway is in the national interest," he told ABC radio.
He said the S&P ratings statement contradicted Mr Morrison's optimism and said the agency was specifically looking for the government to raise more revenue.
