At every opportunity, Scott Morrison and Josh Frydenberg declare that “our economy today is one of the strongest in the advanced world”, as the PM did at the 22-second mark in the recent televised leaders’ debate, then again several times later. This is not just false but the diametric opposite of the truth, and is extremely easy to disprove.
Economic outcomes are measurable. We have tables already assembled for most important variables. We don’t need complex formulae, or even a calculator. We just need to read numbers off a screen.
Income per person
The International Monetary Fund (IMF) lists for 197 countries the value of gross domestic product (GDP) per person in both domestic currency and in US dollars. If we take the latter and focus just on the 38 developed members of the OECD, we can easily compare rankings over time.
In 2007 and 2008, as Labor started its last term, Australia’s GDP per person was just under US$50,000, which ranked 11th among the 38 wealthy OECD member countries. That is, the citizens of 10 countries earned more money than Australians did. From 2011 to 2013, Australia ranked fourth on this measure, with only small, rich nations Norway, Switzerland and Luxembourg earning more.
Australia’s ranking then slumped through the Coalition period since 2013. It is now eighth, having been overtaken by Ireland, Iceland, Denmark and the…
