When the global crisis broke out, the Australian government was able to allow itself to spend immense sums because its debt burden before the crisis was very low. If we enter a recession, the debt-to-GDP ratio will jump, and we will find ourselves in a situation where the government cannot finance the deficit at a reasonable rate of interest, like the situation in 2003.
We must be in a situation where we can deal with various problems, even if we don’t know whether those problems will actually take place. BIS central bankers’ speeches  3  If we must increase defense expenditures because it is vital to the future of the country, as some people claim, we will need to pay for it, through an increase in taxes.