Professor John McHale:

I cannot identify a silver bullet. However, contrary to some of the discussion, which may seem very negative in terms of where we are going, our basic analysis is that we have made great progress. We faced very significant risks in the last couple of years and have managed to avoid some disasters and credit to the previous Government and the current Government for getting us to this point. There are tentative signs of growth returning but there are uncertainties surrounding it. Our basic message is that we are on the right track but there are a lot of risks and challenges. It will require careful and forward-looking management, really focused more on the macroeconomics side, as Deputy Boyd Barrett said, as well as very good management in terms of the structural policies on the microeconomic side. I do not want members to come away from this with a pessimistic message. Essentially, our job is to worry about stuff and so we do but sometimes, it may sound as though we have only seen the downsides.