Australia is trying to drink its way to fiscal sobriety

Spectator Australia · Dimitri Burshtein and Peter Swan · Wednesday 29 April 2026

Australia is trying to drink its way to fiscal sobriety

Australia is in the longest run of falling per capita output since the Australian Bureau of Statistics began publishing the… The post Australia is trying to drink its way to fiscal sobriety appeared first on The Spectator Australia. What to read next: Australia is fast becoming a failed socialist state | Command and control Australia | Australia’s most dangerous word | Australia is not Argentina. Yet.

Per capita output falling for the longest stretch since the ABS started keeping score, and the Treasury's answer is to count the GST receipts from the bottle shop and call it growth. Howard left a surplus. Costello left a surplus. This mob's left a hangover and a receipt for the schooner that caused it.

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