Following the lead of Sky News and the Murdoch newspapers, Australia's national broadcaster is misreporting Labors economy.Alan Austinreports.

AUSTRALIA'S RETAIL sector employed 1.30 million workers at the beginning of 2024, a number expected to decline as supermarkets shift to self-checkout and online shopping advances.

Yet according to last Thursday's detailedjobs updatefrom the Bureau of Statistics (ABS), shopkeepers had to employ an extra 52,700 workers last year to deal with surging demand.

That brought the retail workforce to a fresh record 1.35 million, up 4.1% for the year, well above the overall jobs growth of just 2.4%.

The same ABS file shows jobs in accommodation and food services surged by a thumping 84,000 last year, or 9.4%.

This brings to more than 20the number of datasets from the ABS and elsewhere showing Australia has moved out of the Coalitions cost of living crisis through2021-23 into an impressive household spending recovery.

A recent interview on ABC was the subject of a formal complaint. The official response from the national broadcaster is even more problematic.

Serious media failures

ABC News consistently misreports this, just as it refused to report accurately the Coalition's severe economic failures.

Another shameful example arose duringanalysisof the(RBA) Reserve Banksinterest rate cuton Tuesday, 18February. A chap calledIan Verrender, described as the ABCs chief business correspondent, made multiple assertions at odds with the evidence.

ClaimedVerrender:

He also stated:

In fact, virtually all significant economic indicators except gross domestic product (GDP) growth show Australias economy is among the worlds best-performed.

These include the 15 graphs listedherelast weekand these additional 17 datasets, which show:

• recordemployment growth;
• record employment to populationratioat 64.6%;
• recordjob participationat 67.3%;

• inflationin the lower half of the RBAs optimum band;

• wages growthabove inflation for five straight quarters;

• median wealthper adult asthe second highest in the world;

• ASX200above 8,000 since last September;

• poverty and homelessness reducing, according to theProductivity Commission;
• emergency calls to the National Debt Helplinedeclining,
• record highnew car salesin 2024;
• record sales ofnew private aircraft;

• overseas tripsin 2024 at a new record high of 11.6 million;

• enrolments in fee-payingprivate schoolsat an all-time high;
• recordmanufacturing gross profitslast financial year (2023-24)at $47.4 billion;
• recordconstruction profitslast year, at $31.1 billion;

• record profitsin several other sectors;

• household spendingat a record high. (See chart below.)

This is the opposite of rather poor shape. It is the antithesis of a weak economy.

Verrender then claimed:

No, it isnt. The entire world is in the low GDP growth phase of the long-term cycle, with several countries either still in or just out of recession or a per capita recession. Australia is one of onlythree OECD economiesto have recorded positive quarterly growth every quarter for the last three years. Spain and Costa Rica are the others.

Developed countries to have copped six or more negative or zero quarters over the last three years include Germany, the Netherlands, Norway, Ireland, Hungary, Latvia, Austria, Estonia and New Zealand.

Yes, 0.84% growth is historically low. But this does not signal anything appalling given conditions worldwide and all the other strong outcomes.

Verrender'sthird false claim:

Australia has enjoyed a retail upswing since households were gifted billions instimulus moneyduring COVID. Retail volumessoaredasfree cash was splurged. Values increased even more in 2021 asinflationraised prices, prompting the ABS to note that "disruption and volatility caused by COVID-19" impacted its data.

When the aberrant period of artificially inflated retail turnover ended in late 2023, neither values nor volumes returned to pre-COVID levels. Both stayed higher. (See chart below.)

The category breakdown is instructive. Spending on luxuries, including cosmetics and dining out, reached an all-time high percentage of retail turnover in the December quarter at 21.3%.

In contrast, the proportion spent onessential food has fallen. This has averaged 39.5% of retail sales for the last three years, down from the pre-COVID average of 40.6%.

Retail is not flatlining. It is surging.

Responses from the ABC

Independent Australiaemailed Ian Verrender twice with no response. We also lodged a formal complaint to the ABC Ombudsman, who, it seems, only checked these facts with Verrender himself.

The national broadcaster still refuses to fulfil its duty to broadcast the truth.

The Ombudsmans response addressed most points raisedbut simply repeated the false claims which are well-rehearsed mantras ofSky Newsand theLiberal Party.

The Ombudsman asserted:

That is plainly false. The detailedOrganisation for Economic Co-operation and Development(OECD) data explorerconfirmsAustralia ranks seventh among 35 countries with US$37,433 (AU$60,294).

The Ombudsman also claimed:

That is laughably absurd. No dataset shows that they all show impressive upswings.

Of course, pockets of hardship and deprivation remain. It will take many more years yet to undo all the damage of nine years of Coalition corruption and incompetence.

But the recovery is underway, despite media denials. Just ask the 2.33 million retail and hospitality workers striving to meet consumer demand.

Alan Austinis an Independent Australia columnist and freelance journalist. You can follow him@alanaustin001.

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