As we sit here in Canberra today, it can be easy to forget how dire the outlook was in 2020: there were credible projections that the unemployment rate would reach 15 per cent, spending was collapsing, our hospitals were expected to be overflowing and a vaccine seemed years away. It was a scary time.
Reducing our external vulnerability is a long-term proposition that would mean running lower current account deficits than we have in the past and sustaining them over an extended period, not just one or two years.