The rude awakening has finally started. Five years late it appears that Canberra has discovered that the commodity super-cycle upon which our future was hung was a passing fad, that its commodity-dependent Budget is a picture of volatility, and that Australian growth – which was to enjoy decades of smooth prosperity in its structural adjustment to greater commodity intensity – is instead entering a lost decade of super-bust struggle and strife.
Delivering the message is, ironically, Glenn Stevens, one of the great champions of Australian exceptionalism, from the AFR:
The Abbott government has abandoned the search for big May budget savings, will not meet its forecast 2018 return to surplus and is privately acknowledging collapsing revenue means it is highly unlikely to offer tax cuts at the next federal election.
