Prices, jobs, growth and debt all confirm the Coalition parties have run out of puff, asAlan Austinreports.

WHEN THEMorrisonCoalition Government was formulating its FederalBudgetin October 2020, net debt had climbed to $602 billion and was still rising. Ten months later, it hit $626.2 billion.

In that 2020 Budget, net debt under the Coalitions settings was forecast to reach $812.1 billion in 2021-22, then $966.2 billion by 2023-24, which would have been disastrous.

Fortunately, voters in their wisdom tossed out the incompetent Coalition at the 2022 Election, enabling Labor to change virtually all economic settings andreversemost of the nose-divingtrajectories.

Net debt at the end of 2023-24, after two Labor budgets, wasreducedto just $491.5 billion. See the difference? A cool $474.7 billion nearly half a trillion.

The latestnumber, for September, was $552.0 billion.

The PM wearing a Joy Division T-shirt is the new topic du jour about which to feign outrage, in case anyone was wondering.

Time to disappear forever

Similar contrasting outcomes on other key variables reveal the stark disparities in vision, strategy and competence between the major political groupings.

They strongly suggest time is up for the Coalition parties the Liberals and the Nationals. They are no longer the movements ofRobert Menzies,John Gorton,John McEwenandDoug Anthony. Or even ofMalcolm Fraser,Peter Costello,Tim FischerandWarren Truss. They should now follow theProtectionist Party, theCommonwealth Liberals, theNationalistsandUnited Australia, all of which ran federal governments in the past but eventually ran out of steam.

The currentdisarraywithin the conservative parties over climate policy, mineral extraction and leadership confirms that time is up. But it is the economy, on which they long claimed superiority, where they have lost all credibility and authority.

Economic competence across the board

Its fair to focus on debt to expose Coalition hollowness, as they chose this as their attack weapon in their tawdry election campaigns against theRuddandGillardGovernments during theGlobal Financial Crisis. Labors net debt peaked at 10.4% of gross domestic product (GDP) in 2013, the third-lowest in the OECD. Later, in 2021, under the Coalition, it hit 28.4%.

We can, of course, look at all the other critical outcomes and reach the same conclusions: that the Labor Party clearly manages the economy vastly better.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) did this last Thursday with its missions finalreporton Australias economy for 2025.

In a highly positive assessment of Prime MinisterAnthony Albaneses administration, the IMF found that:

Specifically on debt, the IMF reported that:

As gross government debt nears $1 trillion, the numbers reveal a confronting truth most of it was racked up by Coalition governments.

Economic growth still looking good

In a somewhat surprisingreleaselast Thursday, the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS) found that economic growth has been positive in all eight states and territories through financial years 2023-24 and 2024-25.

While its not unusual historically for all states to increase gross state products simultaneously, this is the first time in a decade we have seen this in consecutive years.

Thats because these are unusually tough times globally for GDP growth. As IA hasreportedbefore, Australia is the worlds only economy with triple-A creditratings, inflation within the optimum band and continual GDPgrowthfor the last three years.

The IMF affirmed this also:

Employment still buoyant

Australiasjobless ratecorrected in the right direction in October to 4.34%, down from 4.45% in September which, while still low in comparative terms, was the highest for 46 months.

Australia has returned to the top nine OECD member economies by low jobless rates, having now snuck ahead of the UK, Norway and the Czech Republic. The OECD average is now 5.87%, up from 5.59% a year ago, confirming times are more challenging.

The IMF concurs:

Claims from Australias welfare peak body appear at odds with reality.

Wages continue to rise above inflation

Wages increased 0.8% in the September quarter, or 3.41% over the full year, according to last Wednesdays ABS data. This makes eight quarters with wages rising faster than prices.

That contrasts with ten straight quarters of inflation-beating wage rises beginning in the June quarter of 2021 under the Coalition.

While the headline inflation rate ticked up to 3.47% in the monthly data for September, core inflation or the trimmed mean remains well within the RBAs optimum band at 2.80%.

The IMF believes Australia now has living costs well under control:

Mendacious media just as useless

The pro-Coalition newsrooms are devastated at the self-destruction of their pet political parties, and are earnestly trying to rehabilitate them with best-spin reportage and loads of free advice.

Recent headlines in theAustralian Financial Reviewincluded:

• Libs mustnt let Nats wag the dog on environment again;

• Coalition should have copied Tony Abbotts approach on net zero;

• Liberals gear up to fight over kitchen-table economics and migration;

• As descendants of Liberal MPs, we wish the Coalition had a rational climate policy;

• Centre-right under threat if Liberals split, warns leading moderate;

• Why a fight over immigration is not the answer for Sussan Ley; and

• Dumping net zero means long-term opposition, Kapterian warns.

The nation would be greatly served if the disappearing Coalition parties took the pro-Tory media with them.

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

Related Articles

• Sussan Ley says Coalition has always been committed to Net Zero renewables
• CARTOONS: Littleproud and Ley linger over new lineup
• CARTOONS: Mark David is going it alone
• The Coalition marriage breakup: A nuclear meltdown
• EDITORIAL: The Coalition marriage breakup: A nuclear meltdown