One day Julia Gillar, who was Prime Minister of Australia, asked union and business leader to speak up for the Australian economy and minimise the bad economic news from other countries. This was said during a dinner held on the eve of a major economic forum that was designed dot enhance the confidence of the Australian economy and set a clear progressive direction.
This meeting involved around 130 leaders from academia, trade unions, and private business. The conference was hidden from public view and focused on the role of Australia in a century that was being characterised by a rise in Asia.
In the meeting, they were urged to talk about the positives of the Australian economy and dissuade people from believing that the global economy was going to crash down on them. It was about getting away from fear-mongering and talking about the factual reality that the sky was not about to fall.
She cited that negative economic forecasts from other countries would affect Australian confidence if the narrative was not corrected in regard to the local context. She said it was important for the government and economic leaders to raise levels of economic optimism in the wider Australian society.
She cites facts that supported her consensus that the Australian economy was growing in spite of the negative news heard in other countries. She wanted business leaders to chase meaningful opportunities to grow with the changing trends in global trade rather than fight against them.
At the time, the Liberal opposition condemned the event as being nothing more than a motivational seminar with not real policy changes being flagged. They said that Labor would use big events like this to make promises and break them later to introduce new taxes.