Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd shouldn't use the outcomes of the G20 meeting in London as a blank cheque for further economic stimulus packages, Australian federal opposition said on Friday.
"We're concerned that this is not a blank cheque for Rudd to come back to Australia and to splash more money around and to plunge Australia into much greater debt and deficit," the opposition's finance spokeswoman Helen Coonan told ABC television.
Coonan said the fact that some agreement had been reached about how to address the world's financial problems - including more money going to the International Monetary Fund (IMF) was a positive step.
"A lot of economies are simply heading towards printing money. We think that would be an appalling step for Australia," Coonan said, adding that eventually, the money being put forward around the world had to be paid back.
Leaders from the world's 20 biggest economies have struck a historic agreement to pump an additional 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars into the global financial system as part of a major rescue package.
Leaders from the G20 countries, including Australia's Kevin Rudd, have signed off on the six-point deal after holding crunch talks in London.
The rescue package includes an extra 1.1 trillion U.S. dollars to restore credit, economic growth and jobs as well as a trebling of money for the IMF.
(Xinhua News Agency April 3, 2009)
