Nobel Laureate Paul Krugman famously observed that “productivity isn’t everything but in the long run it’s almost everything”. It turns out that in Australia’s case he is wrong. Productivity is everything. It is responsible for all the increase in Australian living standards since Federation.

Productivity growth didn’t create our natural environment, but it has helped pay for its protection and enabled the leisure time to enjoy it. The same goes for other leisure activities, such as spending time with your children and practising making them.