Federal Treasurer Wayne Swan has blamed "excessively pessimistic" reporting of Australian economic indicators for keeping local confidence down.
"We've got to get some balance, a reality check if you like, back into that discussion," he told ABC Radio.
The government had already factored a European recession in to its forecasts, he said, and the Australian economy could withstand "the worst the world can throw at us".
The treasurer said that while there were great dangers emanating from Europe, Australia shouldn't be blind to the opportunities that flow in to the region.
"I think there has been a lot of the talking down of the economy, certainly from our political opponents," Mr Swan said, adding that the opposition constantly misrepresented economic fundamentals.
He also pointed to media coverage of International Monetary Fund growth downgrades overseas and the recent jobs rate in Australia.
"When those IMF downgrades were published a week or so ago, the debate here was as if this was a new trend in the global economy," Mr Swan said.
But growth estimates in the government's mid-year budget review, released in November, factored in the slower growth forecasts.
Mr Swan conceded that jobs growth had slowed during the past year, but said it was nothing like what was happening overseas, citing the latest local unemployment rate of 5.2 per cent.
"The reporting of that figure was an example of people being excessively pessimistic and going too far to the downside," he said.
"You would have sworn ... that somehow we had an unemployment level which was back at the early 1990s of 10 per cent or 11 per cent, similar to what they've got in Europe and the United States."
