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In 08 we did have one negative quarter but the definition of a recession is two consecutively. The government acted very quickly, giving tax rebates and other forms of stimulus. I remember how excited people were and it seemed everyone was out buying flat screened televisions.
But as said, our banks were much more secure, basically as if you default on a mortgage all your other assets can be accessed. Also as others have said we have a lot of exports to China which provided income for the country.
What is different this time? What is different is that in order to respond to the virus large numbers of people had to put out of work in March, overnight, in a way that has never happened before. Large parts of the economy were shut down. There was a lot of reopening but it has been ruined by a second wave in Victoria, our second most populous state. This has also caused borders to remain closed, stopping most travel. The government are paying out a fortune in stimulus payments whereas they were about to bring down a balanced budget.
The recession is not expected to be as deep as in many other countries but what started as a policy to suppress the virus seems to have now become, in most states, one of elimination. Which will slow the recovery.
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