I’m certainly no economist, but luckily I married one who is nearly as tight as the boss of the Reserve Bank of Australia.
When we first met, I was basically over-extended on car payments (I probably only owned the front wheel) and had a maxed-out bank card that I was paying the minimum payment on each month.
To say I was going backwards faster than our federal treasurer would have been an understatement. That was my financial position and I also looked like I had run into the back of a bus. What a catch I was.
This was the early ’80s, and it took Old Mate a few years to get us on track through a shrewd property purchase and a house built on weekends with my footy mates. We both had two jobs – a day one and a night one – but we started getting somewhere – until something dramatic happened.
Of course, I am talking about something that is topical at the moment: interest rates.
The surprise we got in the ’80s was that, by the end of the decade, interest rates had risen to more than 17 per cent.
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At the interest rates peak, we had to sell both our cars and buy an old Telstra van. We still had a gravel driveway and no floor coverings in one room because that was the best we could do. We only had one bathroom and a carport converted into a bedroom, as that was all we could manage.
The world didn’t end and by the early ’90s, the geniuses in Canberra had wound it back to about 5 per cent.
The ’80s started with a conservative government. Then, for the next 13 years, it was a Labor government, with talk about the recession we had to have, followed by 11 years of the conservatives again. Does this all sound a little bit familiar?
Unlike the ’80s, interest rates won’t go over 17 per cent as the world really will end. But we may just have to make some decisions on what is important and what isn’t.
The sun will still come up and when we open our eyes and take a breath, we should remember we are in a pretty good part of the world – maybe even the very best part.
The best news should be that after decades of childish behaviour in Canberra, both sides of politics start working together to dig us out of this mess. That looks unlikely. So, I am left to check with my head economist to see if I can still afford a beer.
Ashley Robinson is Mets Caloundra CEO, chairman of Thunder Netball and a lifetime Sunshine Coast resident.
