Paul Keating’s ‘recession we had to have’ of 1990 to 1991 extended for four quarters, over which time output shrank 1.7 per cent and unemployment surged to a post-Depression high of 10.8 per cent. From 1991, Australia’s economy then set a record-long expansion for a developed country, withstanding the Asia crisis of 1997 to 1998, the tech crash of 2000 and the global financial crisis of 2008 to 2009, before shrinking during the pandemic.