Post⁃War Development
Changes brought by World WarⅡlaid the foundation for rapid economic development.For almost three decades after the war，Australians enjoyed near⁃full employment and a level of economic prosperity they had never known before.
Continuous international demand for wool and wheat after the war boosted the prices of these two commodities to a historical high.As wool and wheat made up two⁃thirds of Australia’s exports until the end of the 1960s，their high prices brought great wealth to Australians.Industry also developed very quickly.Cars，refrigerators，washing machines and many other consumer goods were made in Australia for the first time in history.The discovery of a large number of mineral deposits after the war further stimulated economic growth，as Australia became the world’s major supplier of minerals in addition to wool and wheat.By 1970，Australia had become an industrialized and urbanized modern country and its people enjoyed a very high standard of living.
However，things began to change in the early 1970s as Australia was hard hit when the world economy entered a period of recession.Unemployment rose and inflation became serious.The Labor government which took office in 1972 took a range of measures to address these problems.It made university education free and instituted a comprehensive national health program.It also reduced the working hours of government employees to 35 hours a week and provided them with four weeks of annual leave.In addition，the government increased spending in order to create new jobs and devalued the Australian dollar in order to stimulate exports.
However，the recession continued，and many wealthier people were dissatisfied with the Labor government’s social reforms.As a result，the Labor Party was defeated by the Liberal and National Coalition in the 1975 election.The Coalition government adopted policies which benefited the rich.It implemented massive cuts in funding for unemployment benefits，education，and Aborigine development.At the same time，it increased allowances to businesses.
Despite these measures，the economic recession persisted.As a result，the Labor Party was voted into office again in 1983.This time，the Labor government made concerted efforts to win the cooperation of both labor and business.Soon after the election，a long drought which had caused great difficulty for rural areas ended and the economy began to recover from the recession.Production increased，unemployment fell，and inflation was also curbed after 1983.
At the same time，the Labor Party began to depart from its traditional economic doctrine of government regulation，and to advocate laissez⁃faire policies such as free trade.It privatized all state⁃owned banks and allowed foreign banks to operate in Australia.The government also began to shift its economic policy to favor business.As a result，workers’real wages began to drop after 1984 as the unions’ability to negotiate wages was restricted by government policies.
The government’s laissez⁃faire policies also caused problems for the agricultural sector.When global wheat prices collapsed，Australian wheat growers had great difficulty competing in the international market without government support against government⁃subsidized wheat producers from other countries，such as Canada，the United States，and the European Common Market.As a result，most farmers could no longer make a living and were forced to sell their farms to large agribusinesses.
The new Labor economic policy also caused problems for the nation’s financial sector.Deregulation of the banking system resulted in credit being made easily available，which led large corporations to take on high levels of debt.This caused the value of the Australian currency to drop by 20％ on international currency markets in 1986.
The new Labor Prime Minister Paul Keating，who came to power in 1991，introduced changes in government policy.He believed that government should play a role in the economic life of the nation，and instituted policies to prepare the unemployed for new jobs through free education and job retraining.He also emphasized the importance of Australia’s relationship with Asia.After 1994，the economy began to turn around.
The Keating government took steps to improve the relationship between the Aboriginal people and white Australians.During his administration，Parliament passed the Native Title Act which recognized indigenous peoples’title to land，and the government offered to compensate them for the land they had lost.
However，Keating’s policy was not popular.A coalition of the Liberal Party and the National Party won the election in 1996.The coalition government reinstituted to the previous policies favoring the wealthy and largely excluded the urban working class and rural farmers from economic progress.［Note：This may seem simplistic，as well as appearing tendentious to some readers.］
In foreign policy，Australia allied itself closely with the United States after World WarⅡ.The Liberal government，which was in power from 1949 to 1972，refused to recognize the People’s Republic of China and deployed the Australian military to support U.S.policy during the Cold War in Malaysia，Egypt，Indonesia，and Vietnam.In 1966，the government implemented conscription in order to increase the number of troops it was sending to Vietnam.This led to large⁃scale demonstrations and confrontations between protestors and police.
The Labor government which won election in 1972 adopted a more independent foreign policy，although it continued to value the American alliance as the foundation of Australian foreign policy.It ended conscription and freed draft resisters from prison.The new government extended diplomatic recognition to the People’s Republic of China and officially ended the White Australia policy.Although it maintained cultural ties with Great Britain，it abolished British aristocratic titles and removed the words“British subjects”from the Australian passport.Australia also adopted a new national anthem，“Advance Australian Fair，”which replaced the old British anthem“God Save the Queen.”
However，the problem of national identity was far from being solved despite of the steps taken by the government.In 1988，Australians celebrated the bicentenary of the first colony without a national flag because people could neither decide on a new flag nor cherish the old Commonwealth flag.In the years that followed，the movement for an independent republic gained momentum.A poll in 1993 showed that 62％ of Australians favored a republic.However，the Liberal and National coalition government was not enthusiastic about the notion of a republic but it promised to put the issue to a national referendum.When it did propose a constitutional amendment to establish Australia as a republic，it included the provision that the new office of President would be elected by the Parliament instead of being directly elected by the people.Due in large part to dissatisfaction with the proposed electoral method，the republican amendment was defeated in a national referendum held in 2000.
When Keating became Prime Minister in 1993，he began to emphasize the importance of Asia to Australia’s future because Asia absorbed two⁃thirds of Australia’s exports.He believed that the dynamic Asian economies offered an excellent opportunity to Australia，and acted quickly to establish close bilateral relations with its Asian neighbors.He also played a key role in the establishment of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation（APEC）forum.Close regional involvement has been central to Australian government policy ever since.
The government headed by Tony Abbott of the Liberal⁃National Coalition Party，which won election in 2013，continued the policy of close economic ties with Asian countries，signing free trade agreements with Korea，Japan and China.At the same time，it continues its alliance with the United States and has played a more active role in international affairs.
In September 2015，Malcolm Turnbull，the minister of communications in Tony Abbott’s government challenged and defeated Abbott as the leader of the Liberal Party.As a result，Malcolm Turnbull became the 29th Prime Minister of Australia on September 15，2015 and he went on to win a second term in 2016.