The Australian economy has proven its resilience, recording 16 years of uninterrupted growth to 2007, despite two global downturns. The OECD expects Australia to continue to grow more rapidly than most other OECD economies in 2007 and 2008.

The strength of the Australian economy is well recognised. For the fifth year running, the worldwide executive opinion survey conducted for the IMD World Competitiveness Yearbook assessed Australia's economy as one of the most resilient in 2007.

A decade of economic and institutional reforms has increased the responsiveness of Australia to shifts in the global economy and delivered world’s best practice financial, legal and political systems. This has enabled Australia to better withstand global economic pressures, while strong economic fundamentals including low inflation and low unemployment, have maintained consumer confidence and domestic demand. In 2006-07, Australia's export earnings continued to rise sharply reflecting rapid growth in commodity export prices. Business investment also grew strongly, underpinned by high capacity utilisation and robust company profits.