While the international ratings agencies received a bit of a kicking to their credibility in the wake of the Global Financial Crisis, they are still often wheeled out by politicians as sage-like when the ratings are good and not-so-important when a rating is downgraded. Taking this into account Australia's current AAA rating from Standard & Poor's (S&P) no doubt calls for celebration.
The only problem is S&P believes the path to a balanced budget will be elusive for quite some time. Moreover, according to S&P's director sovereign and international public finance ratings, Craig Michaels, "the government's fiscal credibility is coming into question."
