The Reserve Bank's deputy governor says economic reforms over the past 30 years have made Australia a world-beating economy over the past two decades.

Speaking at a council forum in Brisbane, Ric Battellino says Australia's economy has only experienced three quarters without economic growth since 1991, and annual growth has always been positive since the end of the early '90s recession.

"The period since 1991 is the longest period of growth that Australia has recorded for at least the past century," he said.

"The next longest period during which year-ended growth remained positive was the 13 years between 1961 and 1974."

Of the debate about what has kept the run of annual economic growth unbroken, despite the Asian financial crisis of the late 1990s and the global financial crisis, Mr Battellino says the floating of the Australian dollar in the mid-1980s has been one of the key factors.

"Given the consistent way in which the exchange rate has moved to insulate the economy from various external shocks, I would have to conclude that the decision to float the exchange rate in 1983 ranks among the most important economic reforms, if not the most important reform, of the past 30 years," he argued.

He also rates labour market deregulation, such as enterprise bargaining, changes to competition and industry policy, and financial system reforms as important to Australia's economic performance.

Mr Battellino says people should not place too much weight on China's contribution to Australia's economic growth, as it was not our major trading partner for most of the 20 years of unbroken growth.

"The China story has been significant only over the past five years; most of its significance still lies ahead," he explained.

Instead, Mr Battellino says Australia's domestic economic reforms drove productivity growth, which was a major driver of economic growth during the 1990s, but dropped off in the 2000s.

"The bank estimates that, during that decade [the 1990s], Australia was able to produce an extra 1.5 per cent of output per year simply by using capital and labour more efficiently," he said.

That contrasts with a mere 0.4 per cent per annum growth in productivity during the period between 2000/01 to 2008/09, where increases in the labour force and increased capital spending have driven the slower economic expansion.

Mr Battellino also praised the fiscal management of Australia's governments over the past 20 years.

"Budget surpluses were recorded in 10 of the 19 years since 1991. Government debt was reduced sharply, leaving Australia as one of the best positioned developed economies in terms of government finances," he said.

However, Mr Battellino also acknowledged that economic growth over the past two decades had favoured the wealthy over the poor, with the middle classes relatively unchanged.

"Income relativities across the bulk of the population did not change much over the period, though the relative position of households in the top 10 per cent of the income distribution improved somewhat, and that of households in the lowest 10 per cent deteriorated," he said.

The Reserve Bank is optimistic that China's demand for Australia's commodities will make up for some of the deficiency in productivity growth, leaving Australia at least a couple of years of continuous economic expansion still ahead.

"Relative to prices of our imports, export prices are at their highest level in 60 years (Graph 10)," Mr Battellino observed.

"This is generating a large increase in income for the country: we are forecasting that Australia's gross income (in nominal terms) will rise by about 10 per cent this year."