abbott - tough probing interview by bolt, page-60

Zonetrader,

Are you living under a mushroom?

We are part of the international community. If they don't buy our commodities and products we don't earn tax revenue and thus can't pay Government bills. We are a small country that is heavily dependent on resources for a large chunk of our Government tax revenue. When resource prices drop (iron ore & coal in particular) our tax revenue drops also and Government has less money than they planned. Hence the Budget deficits instead of small surpluses that Labor promised.

Global slowdown means less demand for our commodities!