Scott Morrison has made it clear he won't be throwing money at the economy in the face of an uncertain global economy.
That's even as new figures point to an Australian economy growing only modestly and one that may yet need another helping hand from the Reserve Bank in the form of an interest rate cut.
The treasurer stood up to some of his G20 counterparts when he attended a finance ministers meeting in Shanghai at the weekend.
Mr Morrison said some finance ministers from countries with debt ratios three times the size of Australia's, turned up wanting to spend a "whole bunch more money again".
"Ourselves and the Germans and a few others went 'no', we have just got to run our economies sensibly," the treasurer said on Monday.
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While strong headwinds facing the global economy were causing uncertainty, the treasurer said there was also great recognition of Australia's economic performance with higher growth, lower debt and stronger budgets compared to other G20 countries.
"Our position is the envy of others in the G20," the treasurer later told parliament.
Further new figures that feed into Wednesday's national accounts again proved disappointing and suggest the economy grew at around 2.5 per cent over 2015, well below a level usually associated with strong employment and a declining jobless rate.
Gross operating company profits declined by a larger than expected 2.8 per cent in the December quarter, while business inventories - stock on shelves and in warehouses - are expected to have subtracted 0.2 percentage points from the growth result.
Last week, construction and business investment numbers for the final three months of 2015 also proved weak.
"Overall, the outlook for the Australian economy is modest," the Australian National University's Timo Henckel says.
But Dr Henckel, who chairs the ANU's so-called "RBA shadow board" made up of academics, economists and former RBA board members, does not expect the central bank will cut the cash rate at its monthly board meeting on Tuesday.
"Markets have bounced back from the turmoil at the start of the year, and holding interest rates steady in Australia remained the best policy," he said.
But neither is there a reason to lift the rate with markets remaining edgy, the unemployment rate rising to six per cent and inflation rate below the RBA's two to three per cent target band.
Economists will finalise their national accounts growth forecasts after Tuesday's quarterly international trade and government spending figures.
