From the SMH:
As the federal Treasurer Wayne Swan prepares to deliver his sixth budget, the economy has had a big tick from former prime minister John Howard.
”When the Prime Minister and the Treasurer and others tell you that the Australian economy is doing better than most – they are right. We are still fortunate that we have an unemployment rate with a five in front of it. I wouldn’t have thought that was going to be possible a few years ago, and I don’t think many people would. Our unemployment has remained pleasingly quite low.
”And our debt to GDP ratio, the amount of money, we owe to the strength of our economy, is still a lot better than most other countries.”
…Mr Howard credited the country’s economy strength to China’s resources demand but said the Gillard government had inherited his government’s economy. He warned against slowing the economy down.
”In a globalised world economy, you have people who are in that foot race who are trying to get past you. And the problem about slowing down in that footrace, even if you can’t ever get to the finishing line, is that if you slow down, other people are going to go past you,” he said.
”And that is a bit like what’s happening at the present time. We’ve been doing well in that footrace for about 25 years, but we’re now starting to slow down.”
Mr Howard was speaking at the Mortgage and Finance Association of Australia’s annual convention in Sydney.
That seems a fair enough assessment. In case you’re wondering, here is the chart of Australia’s total debt to GDP versus other economies (a bit old but more or less right):
