But like any prosperity based on 2 scarcity prices it could not last , as the decline in our terms of trade during the century showed. I will return to this theme when I discuss the future.
1  There are three surveys which ask respondents to report their confidence in (a) their own personal economic situation and (b) the state of the economy; these are the Westpac-Melbourne Institute Consumer Sentiment Index, the ACCI Survey of Investor Confidence, and the Yellow Pages Business Index.