Australians began this decade as optimists, and with good reason. While the rest of the world struggled with the global financial crisis, China’s renewed appetite for our raw materials made Australia more prosperous than ever. Australians were optimistic about technology, quickly taking up the dazzling capabilities of new smartphones, social media and digital entertainment.

We were optimistic about politics, still led by a Labor moderniser in Kevin Rudd, and only the fourth prime minister in almost three decades. We were optimistic about energy, with a new sunrise LNG export industry making us an energy superpower. Australians were optimistic about their big banks which, unlike those abroad, did not greedily pursue the dodgy financial engineering that blew up the global financial system. And we were optimistic about business in general: miners were corporate heroes who delivered the nation’s prosperity.