Good news

By Jessica Good

THE year that brought us the buzzwords inflation genie, sub-prime mortgage crisis, fiscal policy and economic stimulus will be remembered by many as the year it cost $100 to fill up the car with petrol, interest rates went up… and then down, and the year they did or didn’t receive a Christmas bonus from the Rudd Government to ease the financial pain.
The Year of the Scout or Chinese Year of the Rat, whichever you prefer, 2008 will go down as the Year of the Economy.
Ahead of climate change, Australia’s and the world’s economic climate dominated the headlines, cutting short the new Federal Government’s honeymoon period.
After ratifying the Kyoto Protocol last year, and then February’s historic apology to the Stolen Generations, the government’s financial challenges rolled in, wave after wave; rising inflation, increased interest rates, fuel and living costs, the global credit crunch, heavy sharemarket losses and a plummeting Australian dollar.
Enter FuelWatch, GroceryWatch, tax cuts and a back-to-basics attitude to spending while we waited for the tide to turn. Meanwhile, the Federal Opposition elected a new leader in Malcolm Turnbull, while Canberrans elected a minority government, giving the ACT Greens the balance of power in the Assembly, successfully lobbied for a power station and data centre to be located further from homes in the Territory’s far south and farewelled a governor general and welcomed his successor, Ms Quentin Bryce, the first woman appointed to the role.
Consumer confidence hit an 11-year low, while the capital absorbed funding cuts to its national institutions and embraced the opening of another in the Parliamentary Triangle, the National Portrait Gallery.
Sadly, we farewelled long-time WIN News presenter and local media identity Peter Leonard. We were horrified by images of terrorism at its worst in the Indian city of Mumbai.
It’s been a complex year filled with challenges foreign to my generation. Faced with a real prospect the nation’s Budget will slip back into deficit next year to ward off a recession, the country’s unemployment level and our spending habits will help determine how long the slowdown lasts.
As for the economic stimulus package, combined with lower interest rates and cheaper petrol, with a bit of luck the benefits will start filtering back into people’s pockets and the financial cycle soon. On that note, here’s to a hopefully prosperous 2009.