Howard offers advice on rating challenge

Former prime minister John Howard has reluctantly offered advice to the prime minister and treasurer after a global rating agency warned that Australia could lose its tripe-A rating in the next couple of years.

He said the government must return to taxation and industrial relations reform, along with fiscal repair, although it is up to the government how it does that.

"I don't want to make what is a challenging task for the prime minister and treasurer even more challenging by saying, `you've got to do this by such and such', that would be outrageously impertinent of me," he told reporters in Sydney on Thursday.