Please click the link below to view Shane Oliver's views on why Australian shares have underperformed global shares of recent.

Key points raised are:

• The performance of Australian versus global shares since 2009 reflects a combination of tighter monetary policy, the strong $A into 2011, the slump in commodity prices, property crash phobia and classic mean reversion.
• High dividend payouts are not to blame.  In fact, Australia's performance is not quite as bad once dividends are allowed for.
• It's too early to say the underperformance by Australian shares is over, but some of the drivers may be waning.