Over the next couple of years we expect GDP growth to be around the 3 per cent mark. In both years it will be boosted by a significant pick-up in LNG production. And the headwinds that we have been experiencing from the unwinding of the biggest mining investment boom in a century will blow themselves out.
Indeed, we are already around 90 per cent of the way through the fall from the peak to expected trough in mining investment. Another headwind we have had over recent years – that is the decline in our terms of trade – has already stopped. Since earlier last year, a rise in global commodity prices has provided a boost to our national income.