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

It is countries around the world, and the emerging world in particular—including in the continents just referred to by the shadow foreign minister, as she is these days—in which the International Monetary Fund operates. But the core principle, and why governments around the world support these institutions, is not only that it is inherently the right thing to do in the spirit of Bretton Woods going back to 1944—which I think all decent governments and parties, Liberal and Labor, have supported from then until now—but it is also an investment in our collective self-interest. When it goes to economies in Europe, for example, if there is an implosion in those economies, the ricochet effect through Europe and global financial markets back to the domestic Australian financial market is significant and potentially extreme. Therefore, international financial institutions, properly resourced—

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