The Howard years produced almost no significant microeconomic reform other than the privatisation of telstra. The GST doesn't help efficiences its just a way of taxing people. The FTA is rubbish - the biggest problem we have with free trade is our agricultural exports which continually get f***ed over by the EU and the US. The US still massively subsidises its farmers and we are still getting f***ed over with the FTA. I did forget however the one shining jewel in their economic crown - workchoices.
The Howard gov't ran the country through global conditions in which a monkey throwing darts could have managed to avoid a recession - on a macroeconomic level they did as they were advised - on a microeconomic level, where they could actually make a lasting difference to our nations prosperity, they wasted and pissed up the greatest boom the country has ever seen. All of which would not have been possible if it weren't for the microeconomic reform done by the Hawke and Keating gov'ts.
And at the end of the day all anyone could say after all those years in power was that they ran the economy well. So hats off to Howard, Costello and the great wasted opportunity.