Matthew Hasan

"Sure, Australia has taken a hit but it's nothing like as bad as in the US, UK or New Zealand," says Matthew Hassan, an economist at Westpac.

Senior economist Matthew Hassan from Westpac, one of the big four Australian banks, said consumer sentiment has shown a " surprisingly resilient reaction to November's ...

That was still well above its long-term trend of three percent, and Westpac's senior economist Matthew Hassan said the moderation needs to be kept in perspective.