Kevin Rudd (Griffith, Australian Labor Party, Prime Minister) Share this | Hansard source

Mr Speaker, my remarks were not about the member for Aston but about the opposition corporately for endorsing a question like that, which demonstrates that Hansonism is alive and well. To assist the House, I will of course withdraw.

It goes to the question of contributions—and you should wrestle with your conscience on this one—to our international financial institutions. Of course, the single greatest set of contributions has been made recently by governments around the world, and prospectively by the Australian government, to the International Monetary Fund, for a range of reasons—firstly, to assist countries who are in deep need in their own financial circumstances; and, secondly, to ensure that we maintain the stability of the international financial system. That is why governments got together in London recently and agreed on a massive injection of resources into the IMF.

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