Head of State

01/04/2009

Speeches by Kevin Rudd and Gordon Brown at St Paul's Cathedral ahead of the London Summit have been covered widely by the Australian media. The Age newspaper's Michelle Grattan says Kevin Rudd stressed the importance of trust and transparency in a financial system where 'the values of equity, sustainability and community are grafted on to those of security'.

31/03/2009

The shared objectives of Britain and Australia were underlined in Downing Street where the Australian Prime Minister met Gordon Brown ahead of the London Summit. Kevin Rudd told reporters that 'never before in modern economic history have governments of the leading economies cooperated so closely on so grave an economic crisis' and he paid tribute to Gordon Brown's role in 'pulling together the efforts necessary to underpin global economic cooperation'.

Referring to a speech by Britain's High Commissioner, The Australian newspaper's Glenda Korporaal says Kevin Rudd is going into the London Summit with a lot of goodwill for Australia's contribution to the global debate

30/03/2009

The Canberra Times reports that another G20 summit next year may assess future stimulus needs. In its editorial the Canberra Times says the London Summit comes at a particularly low ebb for most of the world's major economies. 'The summit needs to ensure the IMF is given the resources and capability to quickly bail out any country that needs rescue.'

According to the Sydney Morning Herald Kevin Rudd has played down the potential for damage at the London Summit, saying the meeting must not get hung up on what the newspaper calls the dispute caused by Europe's strong resistance to further economic stimulus measures.

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has said the preparations for the London Summit have demonstrated global cooperation on an unprecedented scale in modern times. Speaking on BBC television, Mr Rudd said he was confident that this week's G20 meeting in London would agree on a coordinated approach to the global financial crisis.

27/03/2009

Australian journalists travelling with the Prime Minister in the United States have given their take on Kevin Rudd's vision for the London Summit. The Sydney Morning Herald's Phillip Coorey says Rudd is warning of a new divide that threatens an outbreak of global protectionism.

Writing in The Age, Michelle Grattan says Kevin Rudd strongly backed President Obama's stimulus package and believes the G20 must not allow the fire that is burning in their economies to spread through a new wave of trade barriers.

In the Herald Sun, Malcolm Farr says Kevin Rudd wants G20 leaders to see the London Summit as a chance to regulate international finance more effectively.

26/03/2009

Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has told American television 'the London summit is very important to provide the concerted political support necessary to get behind this temporary global action pending recovery in private credit markets'.

Meantime, The Australian newspaper reports that Kevin Rudd and Barack Obama are in ‘furious agreement’ on the solution to the global economic crisis, following their meeting at the White House.

25/03/2009

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd has been in Washington for what President Obama described as a 'great meeting of the minds'. The London Summit was high on the agenda when the two leaders met at the White House, and there was broad agreement on the need for stimulus measures and a better system for international finance. 'A global recession requires a global solution,' said Mr Rudd.

24/03/2009

Ahead of his visit to Washington to meet Barack Obama, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told The Australian he would reinforce to Mr Obama the value of the G20 as a more effective international forum than the G7 because it was more inclusive of the emerging nations of Asia and South America.

The Sydney Morning Herald reports that Treasurer Wayne Swan laid out unremittingly pessimistic view of the global recession, in a speech to the Sydney Institute. He described it as a tide growing in intensity and ferocity that would cost the world $6tr - six times the size of the Australian economy.

23/03/2009

Prime Minister Kevin Rudd is proposing an ambitious overhaul of the world economic order, pushing for China to be given a more central role in the International Monetary Fund, says The Australian.

The Prime Minister was one of the world's first leaders to recognise the importance of harnessing the Group of 20 to play a leading role in dealing with the financial crisis, writes The Australian's foreign editor Greg Sheridan. Mr Rudd has been in constant contact with key world leaders about creating a permanent G20 leaders' meeting as the pivotal instrument of global power.

20/03/2009

The Age reports that Australia's leading trade union organisation is taking its message on the value of stimulus packages to the London Summit. ACTU President Sharan Burrow tells the newspaper: 'You've got to look at where you can drive stimulus that will target employment growth, most efficiently, most speedily, and with a capacity to influence not just national economies, but indeed the global economy.'

19/03/2009

The blogs are running hot after the Australian Government announced a clampdown on excessive payouts for company executives, just one of the thorny issues to be tackled at the London Summit. The Daily Telegraph's Malcolm Farr attracted plenty of responses to his front-page article saying 'obscene golden handshakes' for high-flying chief executives could be limited to one year's base salary, with shareholder approval needed for bigger payouts. In his blog, he agrees with the Government in principle but is suspicious about the timing.

18/03/2009

While many Australian commentators take a positive view of Australia's contribution to the London Summit agenda, not everyone is impressed. Writing in the Sydney Morning Herald, Waleed Aly says the Australian Government's decision this week to reduce immigration numbers goes against the spirit of the declaration made by G20 finance ministers about protectionism.

17/03/2009

Commentary in two Australian newspapers gives the tick of approval to the objectives of the London Summit. In its editorial, The Australian commended Prime Minister Kevin Rudd for his focus on cleansing toxic debt from the financial system. The paper says the G20 is on the right track.

Writing in the Courier Mail newspaper, Paul Syvret congratulated the finance ministers for learning the lessons of history and shunning trade policies 'meaning there won't be a wall of tariff barriers erected that would have gutted Australian exports of sugar to Europe or GM Holden cars to Detroit with excise barriers'.

16/03/2009

The Australian Treasurer, Wayne Swan, says the meeting of finance ministers over the weekend produced a ‘very encouraging outcome’. He told ABC Television's Insiders programme that the meeting in southern England produced substantial agreement about the future regulation in the international financial system 'with a resolve that I haven't seen before'.

13/03/2009

Australia's Lowy Institute for International Policy has published its report on the recent London Summit event in Sydney. Among their conclusions, delegates at the roundtable urged leaders at the London Summit to cement the role of the G20 in the global architecture. 'To tinker with the membership would be an unnecessary distraction at best', the report said.

The British High Commissioner to Australia, Helen Liddell, told The Age newspaper that she welcomed 'solid and valid ideas' from Australia ahead of the London Summit. 'We want to encourage the maximum debate without being proscriptive between now and the summit itself,' she said.

12/03/2009

The Australian government will reportedly use the London Summit to call for a special Asian G20 summit as part of plans to ease the global economic crisis. According to the website news.com.au, the plans will include doubling the resources of the International Monetary Fund's resources and pumping money into struggling national economies.

The Age reports that the Australian government will use the London Summit to call for a special Asian G20 summit as part of plans to ease the global economic crisis. The plans will include doubling the resources of the International Monetary Fund's resources and pumping money into struggling national economies.

The Australian's business columnist John Durie, writing on the London Summit, argues that Prime Minister Kevin Rudd should 'avoid regulatory responses that are unnecessary in Australia.'

10/03/2009

The Australian reports that Tony Coleman, chairman of the International Actuarial Association's enterprise and financial risk committee, has been putting proposals to forums preparing for next month's G20 meeting of world leaders in London.

The Age reports that Treasurer Wayne Swan, who will attend the London G20 meeting, says the World Bank report underscores the need for a strong economic stimulus program.

06/03/2009

The British High Commission's London Summit roundtable in Sydney has generated lively debate on global economic recovery. The Australian newspaper reports that one of those attending the roundtable, former Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating, is cautious about the value of domestic stimulus packages.

Writing in the same newspaper, the current Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said the London Summit is important because it represents the best opportunity to reach agreement on a global strategy to cleanse banks of toxic assets. 'Australia is actively pressing for a seven-part strategy,' he wrote.

In an article for the Financial Times, former Prime Minister Paul Keating said there was an urgent need for the London Summit 'to construct a new paradigm to resuscitate the world financial and economic system'. He said the recent series of government packages, notwithstanding their scale and speed, has had little demonstrable effect on the level of confidence or the outlook for ongoing activity.

05/03/2009

The British High Commissioner to Australia says the London Summit is the next best chance to agree a new framework for the global economy. Helen Liddell told ABC Radio: 'If we don't get this right, economies will be in turmoil for quite some time and it's important to have a robust statement of principles coming out of the London summit.'

04/03/2009

Australia's Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said in a speech that ‘the challenge of toxic assets must be addressed at the London Summit’. He said he had told business leaders in Sydney that there can be no long term economic recovery until we get global private credit flowing again.

03/03/2009

The arrival in Australia of the head of the World Trade Organisation, Pascal Lamy, has sparked further debate about free trade versus protectionism in the global economy. Simon Crean the Australian minister for trade told ABC Television he was optimistic about a successful Doha Round in world trade talks because the stimulus created by free trade would 'get us out of this economic mess'.

The Economics Editor of The Australian newspaper said Prime Minister Kevin Rudd had won high-profile backing for his attack on extreme capitalism as the cause of the global economic crisis from World Trade Organisation director-general Pascal Lamy.

02/03/2009

Australia's financial regulator is looking at ways to make company executives less likely to take excessive risks (one of the objectives of the London Summit) says The Australian.

28/02/2009

The same paper says Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd will meet the President of the United States in Washington ahead of the London Summit to discuss the global financial crisis. Mr Rudd will travel to Britain for the financial crisis meeting of the world's leading 20 economies, and will possibly hold bilaterals with France and Germany.

27/02/2009

Heather Ridout, Chief Executive of the Australian Industry Group, said the introduction of the government’s planned emissions trading scheme in 2010 should be delayed to 2012 or later because of the global financial crisis.

06/02/2009

The Premier of South Australia, Mike Rann said tackling the global financial crisis must be viewed as the economic equivalent of war-time.

Meanwhile an opinion piece in the Sydney Morning Herald warned that the climate crisis was being buried in the global financial crisis - the country has been sweltering in a 40-degree heatwave.

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