Crossbench MPs and senators hoping a tight federal election result will loosen the treasurer's purse strings can forget it.
A global credit rating agency has threatened to cut Australia's triple-A rating in the next couple of years if there is any slippage in repairing the budget as a result of the election.
Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull said it is a reminder that budget repair must be a high priority for the next parliament.
"It is critical for the future of our economy," Mr Turnbull told reporters in Brisbane on Thursday.
Standard & Poor's has revised down Australia's credit outlook to negative from stable while retaining the AAA rating for now.
It later took the same action on NSW, Victoria and the ACT.
It said there is a one-in-three chance the rating could be lowered if measures to improve the budget position are not passed by parliament.
"The negative outlook on Australia reflects our view that prospects for improvements in budgetary performance have weakened following the recent election outcome," the agency said.
Losing the top-tier rating would increase government borrowing costs, raise bank costs and damage consumer and investor confidence.
Treasurer Scott Morrison said it is a warning all parliamentarians must heed and the government's efforts to repair the budget over the past three years cannot be postponed or slowed.
"We remain committed to doing it and often at our great political peril," a sombre treasurer told reporters in Sydney.
But Labor leader Bill Shorten said it shows the country has stood still in the last three years.
"The rating agency's decision ... is a vote of no confidence in Mr Turnbull, in Mr Morrison and the way they have been handling the Australian economy," he told reporters in Perth.
Shadow treasurer Chris Bowen also blamed Mr Turnbull for creating the political instability S&P is concerned about, fatally wounding his political judgment.
He said introducing Senate voting reforms and then calling a double-dissolution election has increased the likelihood of political instability in both parliamentary houses.
But National Australia Bank chief economist Ivan Colhoun said the negative outlook might make the incoming government's task of managing both houses and the budget process somewhat easier.
"No party will like to be seen as responsible for causing a credit rating downgrade," he said.
Australian Chamber of Commerce and Industry boss James Pearson said S&P's decision is a wake-up call and "doing nothing is not an option".
Business Council of Australia chief Jennifer Westacott said political leaders must work together to protect standards of living and create jobs.
Former prime minister John Howard said Australia faces a challenge to get the budget back under control and must return to taxation and industrial relations reform, along with fiscal repair.
