Australia sets impressive trade records which newsrooms refuse to report

Recent World Bank data provides another endorsement of Prime Minister Anthony Albanese’s economy, as Alan Austin reports.

EXPORTERS FOUND 2023 to be a tough year. They were hit badly by low global economic growth, supply chain disruptions due to regional wars and high transport costs.

Of the 35 advanced countries in the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) who reported last year’s exports to the World Bank, only three increased exports relative to gross domestic product (GDP) over 2022. Of these, Australia’s expansion was the strongest.

This is another global win for the Albanese Labor Government. It follows the strong fiscal results recorded by the International Monetary Fund here and on employment as analysed here by IA colleague Stephen Koukoulas.

These achievements stand in stark contrast to the ever-increasing list of the world’s worst outcomes that piled up under the Coalition.

World Bank affirms Australia’s ascendancy

The World Bank’s development indicators show export and import outcomes for 138 economies from 1974 to 2023.

A surge in Australia’s exports occurred from 1984 through to 2001 as a result of the Hawke/Keating Administration freeing up the economy. See chart below.

From just $22.0 billion in sales to trading partners in 1983, the year Bob Hawke won office, exports surged to $76.9 billion by 1996 when Labor under Paul Keating lost office, then continued to climb to $123.4 billion by 2001. That was an impressive 22.2% of gross domestic product (GDP) — an all-time high.

The Rudd Government then hit another high of 23.0% of GDP in 2009, when total annual exports clicked over $200 billion.

Trade surged again in 2023 as the result of Labor’s commitment to regional collaboration, restoration of fractured relationships with neighbours, cutting tariffs and better economic management overall.

The World Bank measured Australia’s 2023 exports at a record 26.7% of GDP.

Australia returns as global leader

As was shown during the disastrous Global Financial Crisis of 2008 to 2013, Australia’s Labor Party has an extraordinary gift for navigating troubled international waters.

Of the 35 advanced OECD member economies for which the World Bank has recorded last year’s export volumes, 17 experienced a decline. These include normally robust economies Ireland, Germany, the United Kingdom, Netherlands and Belgium.

Only 18 increased their exports over the previous year. Just four managed an improvement of more than 5%. Australia ranked third with 6.5% behind Denmark and Costa Rica. See chart below.

Australia ranking third in the OECD on exports growth in 2023 contrasts with ranking 16th out of the 35 members under the Coalition in 2017, 19th in 2018 and dead last in 2021.

Labor’s winning courtships

Australia has recently signed or affirmed trade deals with the United Kingdom, India, Thailand, New Zealand and the United Arab Emirates, and has strengthened trade alliances elsewhere.

Exports to Bahrain surged from an average of $982 million each year through the Coalition period to an impressive $1,921 million in the twelve months to September this year. Bahrain buys alumina, meat, dairy products and wheat.

Mexico, which imports Australian cereals and other agricultural products, was even more impressive. Sales over the eight Coalition years from 2014 to 2021 averaged $346 million per year. This surged in the year to September 2023 to a thumping $952 million, which was almost equaled in the year to September 2024, at $934 million.

Other countries currently buying record values of Australian goods include the USA, Switzerland, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Brunei, Fiji and the United Arab Emirates.

Trump's tariffs and their effect on the Australian economy

Trump's tariffs will hurt the Australian economy and lead to trade tensions.

Rupert seeking Rudd’s removal

The mainstream newsrooms know Australia’s economy is now advancing strongly and rapidly climbing the global tables. They are determined to conceal this from their audiences so that the corrupt and incompetent Coalition can return to serve the rich and powerful corporate sector.

Sadly, this is normal. What is abnormal is the current frenzied campaign by Rupert Murdoch’s global media to undermine Australia’s relations with the USA, discredit the Labor Government and destroy the career of former Prime Minister Kevin Rudd.

News Corp, with the help of Australia’s craven Opposition Liberal Party and other media organisations, including ABC News, is lobbying to get Albanese to sack his Ambassador to the USA, or the incoming Trump Administration to expel him.

Recent headlines at Sky News include:

The campaign is now global, with Murdoch’s New York Post declaring: ‘Australia’s U.S. Ambassador Kevin Rudd faces calls to resign over disparaging anti-Trump comments’.

As comedian and social analyst Jordan Shanks explains brilliantly here, News Corp is seeking revenge for Rudd’s earlier crusade in Australia, together with former Coalition PM Malcolm Turnbull, to restrict the damage done by Murdoch’s continual malicious lies.

Facts and figures confirm Murdoch’s minions are continually lying to you

News Corp in Australia systematically distorts the ‘news’ it publishes, this time on bankruptcies.

News Corp has dredged up critical comments Rudd made before he became Ambassador, including that Trump was “the most destructive president in history”, “a traitor to the West”, “a village idiot” and “incompetent”. Harsh, yes, but accurate.

Chances of Murdoch succeeding are low given Trump’s closest buddies have been far more scathing of him. These include JD Vance, Elon Musk, Lindsey Graham and Marco Rubio. Clearly, Trump loves converts. Rudd is certainly capable of a form of words to heal any rift, if there was one. So we will see what happens when Trump takes office.

Meanwhile, Australians can be mightily satisfied with Ambassador Rudd’s achievements so far. Exports to the USA hit a thumping $6,210 million in the September quarter, up 24.3% on the same period two years ago and an all-time high for any quarter.

Now that’s what should be reported!