Sorry folks, this rosy report is as good as it gets this year

Updated March 4, 2026 — 4:37pm,first published 11:57am

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A growing economy. A lift in living standards. Business investment at its highest level since the mining boom. Productivity improving. People confident enough to go to Lady Gaga and the Ashes.

That’s the broad picture of how the national economy finished 2025.

But it may be as good as it gets, with clear signs that the domestic and global economic situation will deteriorate.

According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, the economy expanded by 0.8 per cent through the final three months of last year. Annual growth lifted to 2.6 per cent, its strongest result in almost three years.

As Anthony Albanese was quick to note, the Australian economy grew quicker and kept unemployment lower than the world’s seven largest developed nations.

Consumer spending rose by a less-than-expected 0.3 per cent. But that subdued result was largely due to a drop in expenditure on electricity and gas, caused by government subsidies.

Discretionary spending - on those concert tickets to Lady Gaga or first day of the Boxing Day test - increased for the first time in........

© The Sydney Morning Herald