While the Albanese Government guides the economy ever higher in global rankings, the malignant newsrooms escalate their destructive falsehoods, as Alan Austin reports.
Six years ago, as the world battled the COVID pandemic, Australia’s economy was a conspicuous loser among the 38 wealthy members of the Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD).
The jobless rate of 6.92% ranked a dismal 18th. Economic growth in the first two quarters of 2020 was negative 0.16% and negative 6.79%, confirming Australia was in its deepest recession since the 1930s. Government debt blew out from 10.3% of gross domestic product (GDP) to 28.3%, escalating interest payments for decades to come.
Interest rates collapsed through 2020 to the all-time low of 0.1%, condemning thousands of elderly retirees to poverty and homelessness.
Fast forward to September 2026 and we find Australia’s jobless rate has tumbled to 4.72%, which now ranks a creditable tenth in the OECD.
Australia is one of only two economies in the world with triple A credit ratings, with both the jobless rate and inflation below 5% and government debt below 19% of GDP. The other is Switzerland.
Australia is the only triple-A economy with interest rates in the optimum band of 3.75% to 5% and wealth per adult above $865,000.
Yet the media companies which happily supported the re-election of the disastrous former Coalition are now mercilessly attacking Labor.
Mixed news on jobs
An impartial assessment of the September employment numbers, issued by the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) last Thursday, notes many positives and some negatives.
The seasonally adjusted jobless rate has edged up slightly to 4.72%, as in the rest of the world, since U.S. President Donald Trump’s senseless tariffs and destructive invasions have disrupted global commerce.
The Reserve Bank (RBA) has argued, however, that a temporary lift in unemployment will benefit everyone in the long term.
Other significant outcomes include:
- full-time jobs increased by 34,400 in September; part-time and seasonal jobs decreased by 73,700; total jobs fell by 39,300;
- the jobless rate remaining below 5% has stretched to an impressive 59 months;
- underemployment – employed workers needing more hours – was 6.33%, bringing the streak of months below 6.7% to 58;
- job participation at 66.76% remains within the narrow optimum band 66.4% to 67.2% where it has been for 47 months;
- 69,100 workers have been jobless for more than two years, down from 84,500 when Labor took office; and
- Treasurer Jim Chalmers has added 1.33 million total jobs, a record relative to population only exceeded by Paul Keating.
Solid global comparisons
Where employment numbers – and the Albanese Government’s economic performance overall – are seen to be most impressive are in global rankings.
Since September 2020, Australia’s jobless rate has plummeted from 6.92% to 4.72%, one of the world’s best improvements.
Over that period, unemployment has worsened in New Zealand, Germany, Finland, Iceland, Hungary, Luxembourg and the Czech Republic.
New Zealand, Belgium, Poland and Portugal now have unemployment above 5.5%. It is above 6% in Canada, Germany, Italy, Greece and Austria; above 8% in France and Sweden; and above 9% in Spain, Finland, Chile and Colombia.
Newsrooms destroy social cohesion
Australia’s craven news media are determined never to report the economy accurately. They want to wreck the Albanese Government, even if this undermines consumer confidence, life satisfaction and the nation’s mental health.
The Nine network headed its report on the latest jobs data: ‘Unemployment shock as jobless rate hits five-year high, nearly 40,000 Aussies fall out of work.’
Seven News asked, ‘Has Labor lost control of the economy?’
The Australian led with ‘Self-sabotage warning to ALP amid jobs slump’.
The Murdoch tabloids ran with ‘Jim’s done a job on us: 40,000 fewer people in work as businesses suffer’.
Reporting was just as irresponsible and harmful in the Australian Financial Review, InDaily, The Saturday Paper and The Guardian.
Coverage across the Tasman
New Zealand’s economy is vastly worse than Australia’s on virtually every measurable outcome.
Quarterly GDP growth has been negative in three of the last nine quarters, annual GDP growth negative for four of the last eight quarters, inflation is higher than Australia’s at 4.1% and government debt to GDP is more than double at 41.8%.
Interest rates have been below 3% for more than a year, ensuring many elderly savers who rely on interest payments stay in deep poverty.
Yet New Zealand’s newsrooms report these outcomes neutrally, without malicious accusations and blatant lies.
When the latest jobs data showed worsening unemployment, The New Zealand Herald simply headed its report: ‘Unemployment rate hits 5.6% — worse than expectations.’
It quoted the spokesperson for the statistics bureau – then Finance Minister Nicola Willis – and finally a Westpac senior economist.
The report highlighted all the positives, with no criticism of the administration from the Opposition or anyone else.
Coverage by Radio New Zealand (RNZ) was similarly calm and factual, emphasising the forces against the Government, and protecting national morale and social cohesion.
RNZ headed its broadcast, ‘New unemployment figures hit 11-year high’.
It accepted at face value the obvious explanation for the setbacks — that Trump’s manifest follies are impacting all trading partners.
RNZ's economics correspondent Gyles Beckford found no fault whatsoever with the national Government:
“That’s just the state of the economy. Now we might also say it might be the volatility and uncertainty that’s been caused by the U.S.-Iran war. It could be the rise in fuel costs making businesses cautious... All these things go into the mix and at the moment, it is just a weak labour market.”
That would never be broadcast by Australia’s malevolent newsrooms. Everything that happens is bad. And everything bad is Labor’s fault. Albo must be sacked!
Such is Australia’s doom.
Alan Austin is an Independent Australia columnist and freelance journalist. You can follow him on Twitter @alanaustin001 and Bluesky @alanaustin.bsky.social.
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 3.0 Australia License
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