Absolut

I've always thought Whitlam and Howard were incompetent treasurers. Move aside fellas. From ABC.

Treasurer Wayne Swan has blamed the Queensland floods and Cyclone Yasi for the sharp contraction in the economy of 1.2 percentage points.

But he promised there would be a "strong rebound" in the next quarter "as the economic impacts of the disasters ease and reconstruction picks up".

He said the figures were a "backward-looking snapshot" of what occurred during the natural disasters."We expected we would take a very big hit from these events - and we have and we expected that when we put our budget together."

Calling the contraction a "temporary hit", Mr Swan said the fundamentals of the economy were strong and medium-term growth prospects were bright.

Lets look at some numbers. National Accounts.

Industry Gross Value added (Non-Seasonally Adjusted)

Mining

Mining
Sep 2010 Q: -1.6%;  Dec 2010 Q: -3.6%;  Mar 2010Q: -4.1%

Exploration and Support Services.
Sep 2010 Q: +3.2%;  Dec 2010 Q: +1.7%;  Mar 2010Q: -0.8%

Manufacturing

Food, Beverage and Tobacco.
Sep 2010 Q: -1.4%;  Dec 2010 Q: -1.7%;  Mar 2010Q: -1.2%

Textile, Clothing and other Manufacture.
Sep 2010 Q: -2.1%;  Dec 2010 Q: -3.3%;  Mar 2010Q: -4.5%

Wood and paper Products.
Sep 2010 Q: -2.7%; Dec 2010 Q: -1.5%; Mar 2010Q: -0.7%

Non Metallic Mineral Products
Sep 2010 Q: -0.8%;  Dec 2010 Q: -1.3%;  Mar 2010Q: -1.3%

Machinery and Equipment
Sep 2010 Q: -0.6%;  Dec 2010 Q: -0.5%;  Mar 2010Q: -1.6%

Manufacturing in Australia is getting hammered. Now factor  in for the June quarter the fall in national collective equity and wealth courtesy of the housing slide.

I can see some trends there that go past one quarter? Can the Treasurer?