As we emerged blinking from the shadows into the bright lights of the world stage, we tottered and stumbled. Turning back was tempting. Thankfully, we persevered, a rough multiparty consensus emerged, with key differences of how we did it, who paid, not why we did it. Australia is now entering its tenth year of solid economic growth. Even the Asian crisis barely dented the economy's performance.
Inflation is low.
Unemployment is falling. No wonder Paul Krugman, the famous American economist, has called Australia a miracle economy . It is an enormous tribute to successive governments. There are many reasons why Australia is so successful. But surely one of the main ones is its greater openness to trade.