Trust me on return to surplus: Swan

Treasurer Wayne Swan says people should believe him when he says the budget will return to surplus next year because Labor has already delivered on the big economic decisions.

Mr Swan said the government plans to return to surplus had already gained big ticks from organisations such as the IMF, OECD and World Bank.

Asked why that should be believed when the government had broken a series of promises such as on the carbon tax, he replied: "Because we have got a track record of getting the big economic decisions right. We got the response to the global recessions right."

Mr Swan told ABC TV the government had announced a fiscal strategy and had been applying it for the last few years with rigour.

He said they now had big ticks in the form of Australia's triple-A rating from the three major international credit rating agencies.

"That's not something that Peter Costello and John Howard ever had," he said.