MELBOURNE (Standard&Poor's) June 9, 2004--Standard&Poor's Ratings Services today affirmed its 'AAA/A-1+' foreign currency and local currency ratings on the Commonwealth of Australia. The outlook is stable. "The strength of government finances remains the key to Australia's 'AAA' rating," said Brendan Flynn, credit analyst in Standard&Poor's Sovereign&Public Finance Ratings group. "It will be important for both the government and opposition to resist election-year temptations to diminish this strength." Australia's fiscal position is one of the strongest of all sovereigns rated by Standard&Poor's because Commonwealth government net debt is very low, small fiscal surpluses are projected, and there is little political appetite for running the budget into deficit. The main risk to
