Australia's prolonged growth hinders deficit action

Sydney

AUSTRALIA'S prolonged stretch of economic growth has numbed households to the risks of budget deficits and debt, complicating efforts to adjust policy, said David Murray, head of the government's financial system inquiry.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott has come under fire for appearing to pre-empt the results of a separate review of the taxation system by promising no changes to the treatment of residential property investments and the private-pension system.