Australia's economy faces short- term weakness following the disastrous Queensland floods and cyclone, Treasurer Wayne Swan said on Saturday.
Swan, who is in Washington to attend the Meeting of the Group of 20 (G20) major economies, admitted the succession of natural disasters that hit Australia and Japan would hit revenues.
Swan said the problems would detract around 0.75 percent from Australia's growth this year and that would impact on government revenues and the budget bottom line.
However, Swan said the nation will face medium-term strength due to predicted growth and investment of 397 billion U.S. dollars.
"But even in the short term we are absolutely determined that the impact of these of events will not actually stop us from returning to surplus in 2012/13," he told Australia Associated Press on Saturday.
"These are impacts in the short term. There's no doubt there will be an impact on the budget bottom line this year. But as we go into the forward estimates, as we go into the years ahead, growth will be strong. Short-term weakness, medium-term strength."
Meanwhile, Opposition Leader Tony Abbott said if the government had been tougher on itself, it would not need to be tough on Australian people at the coming budget due to release on May 10.
"We wouldn't have wasted the money that this government has wasted," he said on the Seven Network.