I daid said is could be a rather shorter one, if the certain situations occur. I didnt say it will be. This recession doesnt look like it is yet as bad as the 90s due to low interest rates and a different approach taken by financial instos re arrears and defaults. Thus hasnt been as bad on the general population YET. We'll have to wait and see how bad it gets.
Though in terms of SFD contraction, it looks sharper and has progress for longer. And like i said this is largely due to the 'epic' nature of the boom that occurred. And the spending from that boom is yet to be exhausted.
And the difference in price of iron ore is also a function of global iron ore production capacity at lower costs. There is alot more capacity today then there was 5 yrs ago.
In the longer term education income will certainly help, as will agri, tourism, manufacturing etc. But in some ways the state needs to be more competive, and the outcome of this recession will IMO help with that.
