“Occasionally, there’s a curious intersection between the affairs of state and events far more personal, when history is forever seared into the memory banks.

“If ever asked when the Australian dollar was floated, I can instantly reel off the date and the sequence of events that led to it.

“Monday, December 12, 1983.

“It had been suspended the previous Friday in a dramatic and bewildering turn of events, even by the standards of a finance reporter then covering global markets, following months of pressure from speculators punting on an official devaluation.”

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