Australia’s “glass-half full” drunkards have welcomed a new addict to the bar. From the WSJ:
“This idea that the mining boom is over is wrong,” Mr. Abbott said in an interview with The Wall Street Journal. “The prices we’re getting for our minerals are still very high by historical standards, and production is going up and up all the time.”
The aspiring prime minister said a recent correction in the Australian dollar had likely done a lot to ease pressure on struggling exporters such as manufacturers.
“It has come back quite considerably,” he said. “I think at US$90 cents a lot of the pressure that was on exporters and import competitors has been relieved.”
…”China and countries like India are going to continue to have a massive demand for Australian resources providing we play our own cards right,” he said.
What is wrong is having the emerging PM join the Wayne Swan and Julia Gillard narrative of endless boom and a higher dollar. Just when some sense had been injected into discussion of Australia’s prospects as we launch off the mining investment cliff.
