Good global citizenship benefits everyone, especially the good global citizen

After two years of partnering with developing countries, Australians are all much better off. Alan Austin reports.

EFFORTS BY the Albanese Government to repair relations with regional neighbours damaged by nearly nine years of Coalition incompetence, corruption and arrogance are bearing fruit.

Papua New Guinea and several other Pacific island states are receiving life-saving development aid at increased levels. Many neighbours are now exporting more goods to Australia than ever before, thus building their economies.

Fiji exported a record $197 million worth of produce to Australia in the financial year to June, 17% higher than the previous year. The Solomon Islands sent $79 million worth of exports — 16% higher than the previous year and nearly four times the puny $21 million the year before that.

Australia’s total imports for the year to June totalled above $420 billion, beating the record the year before. This reflects Australia’s robust economy and also shows the strong contribution Australia is making to the prosperity of other nations.

Treasurer Chalmers is saving us billions

After the trainwreck left by the Coalition, the Albanese Government is repairing Australia's economy in the face of financial crises.

Strong advances in foreign affairs

In her first two years, Foreign Minister Penny Wong has visited most neighbours, including Samoa, Tonga, Papua New Guinea, the Solomon Islands, Japan, China, Vietnam and Indonesia.

She has succeeded in expanding trade as well as restoring fractured diplomatic and security relations. Her government is also getting Australia’s overseas aid levels closer to where they should be, after years of Coalition neglect.

The May Budget increased foreign aid for 2024-25 to a record $5,222 million, substantially above the miserable $3,755 million the Coalition allocated in 2021-22. See pink chart, below.

The contrast between Australia’s generosity under Labor and the parsimony and indifference of the Coalition is pretty stark.

Reaping the benefits — trade

Australians have benefitted greatly from the burgeoning exports and imports since the 2022 change of government, as shown in virtually all indicators of economic health.

Australia’s trade balance has been above $6 billion for 21 of the 23 months Labor has been in office. It has been above $10 billion for 14 of those months. No other government comes close to that — either in dollars or relative to GDP. In fact, the trade balance was negative for virtually all of Tony Abbott’s prime ministership and more than half Malcolm Turnbull’s.

Reaping the benefits — extra spending money

We saw last month that the disposable income of most workers has increased substantially under the Albanese Government. Retail trade figures released last week confirm that Australians have more discretionary spending power than ever before.

The percentage of all retail sales going to cosmetics in May reached an all-time high of 6.27%. This was just 5.9% two years earlier, at the time of the Election.

Spending on cafés, restaurants and catering reached an all-time high of 15.7% in April. The May number matched that.

History shows that when times are genuinely tough for families, far less is spent on those two luxuries than when the economy is buoyant. Tracking consumption of those items this century confirms Australians are much better off now than in any prior period. See grey chart, below.

Reaping the benefits — wealth and income

The ASX all ordinaries broke the 8,000 points barrier in March this year and has been above that level for most of the last three months. It closed on Friday at 8,206.1.

This means virtually all superannuation funds and other investment portfolios have grown substantially over the last two years.

In other welcome news, Australia’s original and trend jobless rates remained below 4% in May, extending the run for a record 27 months. The last prime minister to achieve that was Gough Whitlam in 1974 — who, incidentally, we should thank for Australia’s profitable trade with China.

Australia’s budget remains in surplus, tax revenue is increasing steadily, government spending and the debt are under control and Australia has rejoined the global leaders on GDP growth, inflation reduction, wage rises, per capita GDP and wealth per person.

Mainstream media mendacity

The mainstream media continues to falsify this reality day in and day out.

Already this month the Australian Financial Review has run these deceptive stories:

‘Power price inflation risk for RBA and Labor’;
‘Inflation has no chance of hitting Chalmers’ forecasts: survey’; and
‘The worrying signal small business is sending on the economy’.

While the media lies and distorts, Chalmers gets on with the job

Despite most actual data confirming sound economic management, Australia’s mainstream media continues to denigrate the Treasurer, reports Alan Austin.

The Murdoch outlets also strive to deceive:

‘Industry super funds lose their edge’;
‘Construction costs to jump as wages, labour shortage hit’; and
‘Jim Chalmers is “running out of spin” as inflation surges’.

ABC News is just as rabidly anti-Labor:

The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald tag along:

‘ASX dips as slumping iron ore prices hit big miners’; and

‘Dutton edges ahead as voters thump Labor on economy’.

All those articles are intended to mislead. Yes, it is true that some Australians face hardship. But the proportion of citizens struggling with dire poverty is now the lowest it has ever been. The disparity between the poor and the middle is steadily contracting.

The last of those “news” items, above, asserts that :

‘40 per cent of voters now rank Dutton and the Coalition as best to manage the economy, with only 24 per cent naming Albanese and Labor as the best for the job.’

If voters knew how the economy is actually faring now compared with under the Coalition – which “achieved” 60 all-time worst outcomes in its last year – the opinion polling would show Labor leading about 70 to 30. But, of course, they don’t.

Such is Australia’s doom.