Luxury spending boom exposes newsroom lies about the economy

As Alan Austin reports, the latest consumer spending data confirms that the economy is being run much better than the media has acknowledged.

IN DECEMBER Australians spent 23% of all retail spending on dining out, cosmetics, jewellery, hairdressers and beauty salons. First. This is based on last Monday’s consumer spending data From the Bureau of Statistics (ABSs).

The percentage here is important. During difficult times, a large portion of household expenses go to food, clothing, utilities and other basic needs. With the extra money, families can spend more on restaurants, vacations, and luxury gifts.

For the full year just ended, Australians spent $211 billion on these luxuries, an all-time high. This was 6.5% above the previous high in 2024. Inflation By 2025, this rate was only 3.76%, so price increases account for only a fraction of this increase. The rest is made up of high wages.

Last week’s data shows that the ratio of luxury spending to all spending has reached an all-time high of 22.8% by 2025. See the table below.

(Data source: ABSs)

Multiple data sets from various authorities confirm that real disposable incomes are rising steadily. Australians will take 12.55 million overseas trips in 2025, according to last Thursday’s ABS flights report. This is 8.2% higher than the previous record set in 2024.

Chamber of Automotive Industry recommends more than 1.24 million new cars It was sold in 2025, breaking the record for the third year in a row. Plug-in hybrid vehicles have made the most progress, with a 130.9% increase in sales by 2024.

Light aircraft and business jet sales continue on the road It’s been a record year, but final numbers for 2025 are still pending.

ABS reports strong increase imports Cosmetics and perfume in 2023A. The increase analyzed last year is accelerating. Total imports in 2025 were 3.95 billion dollars. This is 6.2% higher than 2024 and a significant 30.4% increase from 2022. See the table below.

The value of imported jewelry, gold and precious stones increased by 17.6% to $3.04 billion in 2025 compared to the previous record in 2023.

Media manipulation and lies

These results have left anti-Labour newsrooms in a terrible bind. Now they can convince their audiences that the current buying spree is fueling inflation. But most media still claim, quite incorrectly, that Australia remains in a cost-of-living crisis with poverty worsening. And of course they can’t have it both ways.

Right now the poor leaves don’t know which way to jump. They have invested so much in Labour’s cost crisis that they are unwilling to give it up, even though that strategy failed spectacularly at last year’s Federal Election. But this is absolutely not true.

So which anti-Labour lies will work best next? That consumers are being crushed by ever-increasing spending, or that the spending boom is fueling inflation?

This dilemma was hilariously displayed in a schizophrenic article. Daily Telegraph and other Murdoch ragtitled, ‘Australians continue their spending spree as household costs rise again in November’.

The article claimed:

‘Black Friday spending and major events triggered a shock spending boom in November, but experts say there are still questions about the financial health of Australian households.’

So which one? Much wealth or great difficulties?

Cost crisis claims continue

ABC News still pushing the false narrative of criminal spending ‘Cost of living crisis is causing more young women to neglect health and basic needs’And Channel Nine with ‘Parenting is priced out of it: Grocery prices, energy bills and housing insecurity are to blame for Australia’s falling birth rate’.

Similar gloom and doom are broadcast on: SBSinside Nighty, Australian, Western Australia And elsewhere. All of these contain inaccuracies, distortions, omissions, and sometimes outright lies.

ABC News Last Wednesday he tried to scare his unfortunate audience ‘Affordability of rents has fallen to record lows, with rents rising 2.5 times faster than wages’. Requested rent ‘Increased by 43.9 per cent in the five years to September 2025, compared to wage growth of 17.5 per cent over the same period’.

Wage increase data this is true. The rent increase may or may not be right. No resources are connected. The deception is that Commonwealth rental assistance augmented During this period, a large rate of 54.3 percent is not even mentioned. $7,457 annually for a parent with three children eased Rental burden of approximately 1.4 million households. A rather reprehensible omission.

spend shock fear anger

The counter-story, which claims extreme prosperity, destroys civilization as we know it to be advanced. Seven News with ‘As spending intensifies, consumer sensitivity comes to the fore’ And Guard in his own piece ‘A return of inflation could poison Labour’s second-term agenda and scare more voters’.

Both of these “news” raise concerns that Westpac’s consumer confidence index has fallen only marginally from recent highs. First of all, consumer confidence doesn’t measure anything real. Secondly, the January index continues to remain at 90.5 points higher Anytime between April 2022 and November 2024.

Actually, neither narrative is true. Accountant Jim Chalmers In fact, it pulled almost all the right levers at the right time.

As shown here last week, Australia’s unemployed The rate has been below 4.5 percent for 49 months, inflation Below 4 percent annually for 25 months GDP growth It has been positive for 19 quarters and interest rates have been below 4.5 percent for 14 years. This has never happened before since records have been kept.

Challenges ahead

Many Australians are still struggling to find work and pay their bills. So, as successful as Albo and Dr Jim are in 2025, there’s still a lot more to do.

With three months until the 2026 Budget, we will soon see their forward-looking strategies. Now they have seen Coalition as an obstructive force It would be great if the mainstream media could stop with the mindless negativity. Or boycotted from existence.