Radio Australia Today Editorial

I Was There

28 February 2008

Yes I was.

I was a young journalist, barely able to tell my income tax from my syntax, when Australia took the mammoth economic decision to float the Australian dollar.

The Hawke Government had decided that  the headaches of trying to work the value of the currency just wasn’t worth the effort, especially as it was politically damaging no matter whether you devalued or revalued. Let the market decide, they decided.  Then you can’t blame us. Blame the market.

So they floated the dollar. And the market decided. The dollar went up for a few months. Then it dropped to what the market considered a realistic level.

Being young and financially inexperienced (I mean hey, I thought buying a car was a good investment), I was caught up in the euphoria of the float. After all, it was a daring change in a country where little had changed for like a million years.

Today the Aussie dollar has gone back to near the highest level since the float. Why? Well the Australian economy is pretty solid, and the U.S. economy is a bit wonky, especially with the Reserve Chairman continuing to make pronouncements that wobble things even further.

So the Aussie dollar is at its highest level since March 27, 1984. Nearly 24 years. Before we knew about global warming. Before the USSR collapsed. Before G.W. Bush, Clinton, Obama. Before Britney could even speak. Even Addy was still wearing long socks and carrying a Hello Kitty backpack to primary school.

Where has the quarter century gone?