This year's G20: getting the fundamentals right

Financial regulation is always a work-in-progress but these reforms now need to be finalised in ways that promote confidence without eliminating risk.

The challenge for authorities is to keep abreast of developments, not to lag behind them as they did pre-Crisis, and to maintain the public's trust.

On trade, tax, infrastructure, employment and banking, we owe it to our citizens, on whose behalf we attend international conferences, to maximise the specific outcomes from this year's G20.

Finally, governments must always remember that an economy is far more like an organism than a machine.

A strong economy is far less likely to be one responding to central control than one spontaneously generating its own growth.

After all, government doesn't create wealth; people do, when they run profitable businesses.

Government's role is always to nurture its citizens rather than to promote itself.

At the start of Australia's G20 presidency, the government and the people of Australia look forward to welcoming national leaders and international opinion formers to our country.

I promise you: we will make your trip worthwhile.

Australiais determined, as a responsible and committed G20 chair, to promote better global governance.

We will strive to build on the good work of Russia's presidency and lay the foundations for further progress under Turkey in 2015.

Better governance, though, is not the same as more government.

Ultimately, the G20 is not about us in government; it's about the people, our masters.