Whilst overseas in Sarajevo with the Australian delegation to Bosnia and Herzegovina, it has become apparent to me that the financial meltdown is endemic across all markets. I believe it is the responsibility of the major economy, the U.S., to turn the situation around and it is the role of other economies, such as Australia, to mitigate the effects on their people.

I have been talking about this issue since February of this year, when I made note of the dysfunctional state of our markets and the absence of clarity which leaves us vulnerable to exposures.

Money in the bank is like fish in an aquarium. If the aquarium starts to have problems you will not save the fish by placing them safely on the carpet under the bed. You must resolve the problems in the aquarium.

Australia must underpin confidence in our banking sector. Comments circulated by some have suggested that people should take their money out of the banks. More so is the fact that paper money is nothing more than that - ink on paper. I have long said that the management of the Australian economy is a crucial issue and the Treasurer must take immediate action to underpin confidence in our banking sector.

The key issue now is for Mr Swan to clearly spell out a program to deliver indisputable confidence in Australian savings and Australian banks. This must be accompanied by efforts to clarify transparency and reliability in interbank lending between Australian banking institutions.

As I mentioned on September 23rd, and it appears that Mr Rudd agreed in comments he made at the Council of Australian Governments meeting on October 2nd, an infrastructure budget should be clearly allocated to specific items that have direct potential of stimulus from their expenditure in the economy, as well as a future income stream from the operation of that capital.

These items include those things which will reduce our reliance on an oil-based economy through capital investment in packages of alternate forms of fuel; the inland rail, where the benefit would be a direct stimulus from the construction as well as future efficiency dividends from reduced transport costs; greater Port efficiency from Port interconnectivity and quicker and more reliable access from our resource base to our export markets.

We must also address the uncertainties relating to an emissions trading scheme. It is apparent that our carbon footprint will be more than reduced by the effects of a recession as the economy shuts down. We do not need any more impetus to slow things down; unfortunately the economy is doing a brilliant job of slowing itself down. An emissions trading scheme would be fuelled to an already abundant fire.

Australia does have the capacity to provide ample mitigance to its people, far beyond the capacity of other nations. The strength of the Australian economy is so apparently abundant when compared to other economies around the world. However, competency in economic management is now crucial and honesty in that capacity to manage must be clearly declared. If it is not evident, then those responsible must have the courage to hand the reins to those more capable.

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