Newsrooms destroy life satisfaction while trying to report it

Constant lies about Australia’s economy weaken consumer confidence and social cohesion, as Alan Austin reports.

JUST ONE three-minute segment on ABC News last Tuesday (9 June) contained multiple blatantly false assertions seemingly intended to make its audience sad and miserable.

Headlined ‘Money problems’, the item featured a spokesperson for lobbyists for rich corporations, KPMG, declaring:

“Real wages are lower than they were in 2020. Median household wealth is actually flat over that five-year period. It’s no surprise that people are feeling less satisfied with their life because they're feeling that financial pressure.”

A second contributor, a psychologist from Life Unlimited, said:

“I think when we look at this ongoing financial pressure it feels like a chronic stressor. It’s been five years of a hard slog...”

A third interviewee, from the Centre for Policy Development, bemoaned that:

“Worsening economic conditions [are] having an impact on social conditions.”

The presenter then asserted,

“The data shows more than one in five households are unable to raise $2,000 for an emergency in a week. A quarter have experienced at least one cash flow problem, forcing them to dip into savings or take on debt.”

On the same day, an agitated guest on Channel 7’s Sunrise was enraged that:

“The cost of living is crippling so many Australians... I mean, you look at inflation, which is crippling budgets, and you talk to any economist and they'll tell you it's reckless government spending that's fuelling inflation.”

That was followed by the founder of Western Sydney Women, urging Sunrise viewers to despair of life itself:

“This is about the mum and dads who can't feed their children. This is about the small businesses that are closing down every day that message me every day saying, I don't know how to cope.”

Day in, day out, week in, week out, the mainstream newsrooms churn out this malicious nonsense.

Flailing newsrooms flog fears of a fictional recession

Anxiety over Australia’s economy fomented by craven anti-Labor ‘reporters’ is unfounded.

Inflation is not crippling

It is not true that living costs are increasing for all Australians.

Every month, the Australian Bureau of Statistics separates the consumer price index (CPI) into its component parts. Inflation for the year to April of 4.18% comprised coffee and tea up 9.3%, beef up 12%, lamb up 14.7%, petrol up 18.6% and electricity up 22.6%. Over the same year, urban transport costs fell 20.8%, egg prices dropped 3.7%, books were 3.1% cheaper, fruit was down 2.2% and household appliances fell 2%.

Other price reductions included cheese, pharmaceuticals, gardening tools and men’s clothing. Most other categories remained flat.

Hence, an Aussie bloke with a garden who uses public transport and cooks his chicken and cheese omelettes on a gas cooker, followed by seasonal fruit before retiring to his library with a Scotch and dry, will have found his living costs significantly lower over the last year than the year before.

Sure, others copped modest cost rises. The national average was 4.18%, which is historically low.

As observed before, John Howard won the 2001 Election with inflation at 6.1%, Bob Hawke was returned in 1990 with 7.8% and Malcolm Fraser romped it in with 10.1% in 1980.

Wages and pensions increasing

It is not true that real wages are declining under the Albanese Government.

Since Treasurer Jim Chalmers' first Budget in October 2022, the CPI has risen 12.9%. Average wages over that time have risen 13.1%. The minimum wage is 23.1% higher. Age pensions are up 17.5%. Jobless benefits are up 21% and Commonwealth rent assistance is up 44.6%.

Australia now has best-ever economy and worst-ever reporters

Coverage of the recent Federal Budget proves standards of economic reporting are at an all-time low.

The kernel of truth — budgeting difficulties

It is true that some Australians are experiencing financial pressures for the first time. But why is this?

More than 167,800 Australians travelled to France in 2025. That’s 10,000 more than the previous record set in 2023. First-time travellers to Europe, especially elderly citizens, frequently encounter unexpected expenses.

The number of students enrolled in fee-paying private schools has surged by 139,500 in the last four years to 1,547,500. Some of those families must now sacrifice other spending.

Single and twin-engined light aircraft registered in Australia are at an all-time high of 13,639. Of these, 935 were acquired in the last four years. Inevitably, some first-time owners will find costs greater than anticipated.

Many folks now have higher payments after upgrading their home or holiday house, or car or boat, or choosing gold‑tier private health insurance.

These are real pressures. But they are absolutely not indicators that the economy is weak, or inflation is surging, or living standards are falling. They confirm, in fact, the opposite.

This is the reality the craven newsrooms want to conceal with their malicious lies.

Remember the ABC News hack wailing that one in five households can’t raise $2,000 for an emergency in a week? That means 80% of Australians can.

The glaring problems with Labor’s dreadful, appalling, terrible 2026 Budget

Few observers in Australia’s media have had a kind word for last month’s controversial Budget.

Positive news ignored by the media

Total jobs over the March quarter increased by 116,400, comprising an extra 17,100 vacancies and 99,400 more filled jobs.

Industrial relations remain calm, with only 36 new disputes in the March quarter, bringing the total to 49. Twenty years ago, in March 2006, the numbers were 99 and 101. In 1996, 130 new conflicts brought the total to 134, and in 1986, when the workforce was less than half today’s, the numbers were 374 and 379.

Total approvals for all new dwellings, public and private, are up to 68,090 this year to April. That’s 25.3% above two years ago.

Exports are booming with April’s values 7.2% higher than in March and up 10.1% on April last year.

Australia remains the only country in the world with triple A credit ratings, net government debt below 25% of GDP and inflation, unemployment and interest rates all within the band 2.6% to 4.6%.

The economy and the society are travelling well. What has deteriorated disastrously is the reporting.

Global agencies give Australia’s economy thumbs up

As job losses, inflation and weak growth impact many economies, Australia advances apace.

Alan Austin is an Independent Australia columnist and freelance journalist. You can follow him on Twitter @alanaustin001 and Bluesky @alanaustin.bsky.social.