After attending for the first time the Group of 20 (G20) at the Mexican city of Los Cabos, Julia Gillard, the Prime Minister of Australia said: “In these times, when the global economy is such a strong talking point, Australians can continue to have confidence in their own economic situation.

Whichever way you look at it, the Australian economy is a success story…- Lawrence Dimech

“Our economy is growing, we’re creating more jobs, inflation is low (and) our government’s finances are strong.”

Ms Gillard said the world economy may face more “stumbles” on the road to recovery. “But, throughout all of that, Australia, with its strong economy, will stand tall,” she said.

Australia is performing well on most indicators. The economy grew 4.3 per cent over the year to the March quarter compared to a 0.1 per cent contraction in Europe.

Unemployment is just 5.1 per cent against 11 per cent in Europe. Australia has achieved all this with a low public debt equal to 24 per cent of the GDP as against 90 per cent of GDP in Europe.

So was Ms Gillard condescending when she urged the European delegates at Los Cabos that they should follow the “Australian way” in managing their struggling economies?

European Commission president José Barroso, the 11th president and a former Prime Minister of Portugal, told the same gathering: “Frankly, we do not come here to receive lessons in terms of democracy or in terms of how to handle the economy”.

I would have thought that the European Union member states could do well with sound advice or a few lessons on how to handle their economies.

Ms Gillard said that Mr Barroso was referring to North America and not to her speech. “If Mr Barroso had any concerns about anything I said, considering I spoke to him on several occasions today, I think he would have expressed them, which he did not. All he did was express some surprise that his name was being bandied about in the Australian press”.

Europe is keen to have it recognised it was making progress on the growth and austerity reforms to restabilise the eurozone and prevent another global meltdown but the people in the streets of Greece, Spain, Italy and the rest would say it was too little too late.

Europe is now Australia’s second trading partner, the first being the Asian Pacific. One opinion writer said that leaders use fora such as the G20 to consolidate their political position at home. Europeans know they are in serious trouble and they don’t need to be told by a middle-order economy with a quarry for a backyard how to fix it.

I would have thought that meetings like the G20 were the appropriate forum where to speak about success.

Whichever way you look at it, the Australian economy is a success story, especially the way Australia avoided the global financial crisis. Why not shout about it?

In her final communiqué at the summit, Ms Gillard included a commitment by eurozone leaders to address the crisis in Europe through growth, fiscal discipline and greater integration of its banking system to restore confidence.

Ms Gillard said each nation had its part to play and there was a commitment to “pulling together”. “In the case of Australia, we are committed to ongoing investment in skills, tax and transfer reform and investment in infrastructure”.

She also cited Australia’s recent pledge to provide an extra $7 billion to the International Monetary Fund. The Australian funds are part of a G20 agreement to add $456 billion to the IMF’s resources to support the global economy.