Abstract
According to the rhetoric of the Gillard government, more particularly the former Treasurer, Wayne Swan, the Australian economy was the envy of the world during their period of government, in terms of economic growth, employment, debt levels and inflation. It is difficult to know if members of the government actually believed this, but they claimed that it was the fault of Australian commentators and the general public for not realising this—almost the ‘Emperor's New Clothes’ in reverse. The reality was that Australia did fare very much better during the post-global financial crisis years, relative to the serious economic problems and government debt inherent in the countries of the European Union, the Slow economic growth and high unemployment of the USA and the rising government debt in a number of Asian economies. The Australian economy was buoyed by the continuing minerals boom, but more broadly faced some persistent internal economic problems including negative productivity growth, below trend economic growth, gradually rising unemployment and falling business and consumer confidence.