This Christmas there’s a fair chance you’ll receive two presents wrapped in the same gift paper, which are similar in shape and size. Once opened, however, two different gifts will be on display.

It’s the same when reviewing the past 10 years in Australia. They began and ended with horrific bushfires, raging debate about climate change, China looming over just about everything, and Australia, like the rest of the world, grappling with the after-effects of the global financial crisis.