Australia's new Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said after his first cabinet meeting Thursday that he would boost the independence of the central bank and enforce a code of conduct on his ministers.
Rudd told a news conference that he and Treasurer Wayne Swan would introduce statutory requirements making the positions of the governor and deputy governor of the Reserve Bank more independent.
"At present the governor and deputy governor operate effectively at the treasurer's whim," said Rudd, whose Labor Party ousted the conservative government of former prime minister John Howard last month.
Rudd, who described himself during the election campaign as a fiscal conservative, said his government would reduce inflationary pressures through cost-cutting and investment in skills and education.
"We believe that a hardline approach to fiscal policy will be necessary into the future," he said.
"We are committed to budget surpluses, we are committed to robust budget surpluses, and part and parcel of that is to ensure we are implementing a regime of razor-gang type discipline against unnecessary outlays."
Rudd said his cabinet had signed off on a new ministerial code of conduct, which includes a demand that ministers divest themselves of their shareholdings.
The code also calls for the public registration of lobbyists and a ban on ex-ministers having dealings with government on any matters they had handled in an official capacity in the preceding 18 months.
Rudd, who was sworn in as Australia's 26th prime minister on Monday, has already begun rolling back many of the previous government's policies.
In his first act as prime minister he ratified the Kyoto Protocol on climate change. He has also pledged to pull Australian troops out of Iraq and dismantle union-busting labour laws.
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AFP
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