The level of inflation would go through the bloody roof. It would only make buying things get worse because their purchasing power would actually decrease. If they could actually account for every dollar given this wouldnt be much of an issue to me but it is quite questionable indeed.

You are correct. Australia did not enter a recession during the Financial Crisis.

The Governments big spend up on improving schools, roads, telecommunications and energy was a massive part of that... Which benefitted everyone.
Plus the lump sum handout to low/middle class Australians.

Which was in stark contrast to many other countries that were lowering Interest Rates to 0%, reducing tax rates for big business and the rich, spending 10's of Billions bailing out companies, providing interest free government loans and the such which really didn't amount to much. And why was that?
Because if consumers aren't spending, they aren't spending. - Propping up businesses doesn't change that.

In the end, Australia made the right choices to avoid a massive recession, the handing out of money to people was a part of that, which got people into stores.
China's addiction to our resources also helped significantly as well... And we have a very tightly regulated financial market as well, which helped to avoid this very issue.

However, not everything is peaches and cream at the moment though. At the moment our housing market is in a massive bubble... Our housing markets debt rate is almost equivalent to our GDP.
http://www.australiandebtclock.com.au/

*****

Socialism in moderation is also not a bad thing either.
It has it's advantages and disadvantages... Which we have leveraged to our betterment and has given us as a nation some of the best living standards in the world.
It has allowed us to have a healthcare system that is superior to the USA's for a lower cost for instance.

Hate to double-post, but there are WAY too many people saying this will cause inflation not to comment.

Inflation is caused when new money is introduced into the system (printing) without removing old money. In this scenario, extra money wouldn't have to be printed. Here's why:

We spend more than the next seven biggest military spenders in the world combined. If we reduced that to even as much as the next three biggest military spenders we would have our money. Moving to a single-payer health care system would save us billions. Legalizing weed would cut down on the cost of the war on drugs as well as increased revenue from newly taxed products already being sold on the black market. Returning to more sensible tax codes where those individuals (single-persons) that benefit most from our infrastructure (the biggest earners) would pay more than they currently do in taxes towards the economy. Closing loopholes that allow corporations to pay little or no taxes, and hide money overseas, would also lower the deficit.

Doing all of these things together would provide enough revenue to generate a surplus, which could be used for basic universal income -- which would in-turn stimulate the economy. 

Hate to double-post, but there are WAY too many people saying this will cause inflation not to comment.

Inflation is caused when new money is introduced into the system (printing) without removing old money. In this scenario, extra money wouldn't have to be printed. Here's why:

We spend more than the next seven biggest military spenders in the world combined. If we reduced that to even as much as the next three biggest military spenders we would have our money. Moving to a single-payer health care system would save us billions. Legalizing weed would cut down on the cost of the war on drugs as well as increased revenue from newly taxed products already being sold on the black market. Returning to more sensible tax codes where those individuals (single-persons) that benefit most from our infrastructure (the biggest earners) would pay more than they currently do in taxes towards the economy. Closing loopholes that allow corporations to pay little or no taxes, and hide money overseas, would also lower the deficit.

Doing all of these things together would provide enough revenue to generate a surplus, which could be used for basic universal income -- which would in-turn stimulate the economy.