Are we just a bunch of bloody first-world whingers?

The Budget dropped. Twitter melted down. Property investors declared the death of capitalism. Young people saw the final nail in the housing dream. And boomers’ souls briefly left their bodies at the mere suggestion of being taxed more heavily on trust income.

Somewhere in the middle of all this, AMP Deputy Chief Economist Diana Mousina posed a question that should make everyone pause for a moment:

“What happened to the idea of Australia as an easy-going, optimistic country?”

It’s an astute observation as much as it is a good question.

Because if you consumed Australian discourse without looking at the numbers, you’d assume the country was a teetering economy held together by Afterpay and caffeine. But the reality is a little different.

#1 - Australia is still absurdly rich by global standards

#2 - We're no longer a quarry with Wi-Fi

Contrary to the stereotype, Australia is no longer just a giant quarry with internet.

Mousina notes that while mining remains critical at 13% of GDP, the economy is now overwhelmingly services-driven, with finance, healthcare, professional services and construction all major contributors.

“Despite being seen as a major resource exporter, we don’t sell much ‘stuff’ to the world – we’re overwhelmingly a services economy (at about 2/3 of value added),” Mousina says.

For all the jokes about digging rocks and selling houses to each other, the Australian economy has evolved significantly over the past few decades. And that diversification matters because it makes the country far more resilient to economic shocks. A commodity downturn alone is no longer enough to vaporise the economy the way it once could have.

Australia has effectively built a massive domestic services economy on top of its natural resource wealth - and that combination has become one of the country’s great economic strengths.

#3 - Australians still earn more than most of the developed world

Cost-of-living pressures are real.

But the broader data still shows Australians remain among the highest earners in the developed world. Our gross household disposable income - adjusted for purchasing power - was around US$44,000 per person in 2024.

“That’s above most European economies and Canada, although still well below the US," Mousina says.

That doesn’t mean households haven’t struggled recently. She acknowledges that “higher relative inflation in Australia has meant that real household incomes have grown more slowly over the past six years.”

Still, perspective matters.

Australia’s version of “doing it tough” often still comes attached to relatively high wages, universal healthcare, compulsory superannuation and one of the highest median wealth levels in the world.

#4 - Australia’s debt story sounds scarier than it really is

Every few months, somebody discovers Australia’s trillion-dollar government debt figure and reacts like the IMF is about to repossess the Opera House.

“A lot is made of Australia’s ‘$1 trillion’ government debt. It sounds alarming,” Mousina writes.

But raw debt figures without context are mostly economic clickbait.

“Debt will naturally grow over time with inflation and as the economy expands. What matters is not the level of debt in isolation, but its size relative to the economy - and the cost of servicing it."

On that basis, Australia actually looks relatively conservative. Gross public debt sits at around 34% of GDP, which Mousina notes is “at the lower end of the global spectrum.”

That’s hardly the picture of a country spiralling into fiscal collapse.

#4 - Australians are drowning in debt (but swimming in assets)

Of course, when Australians hear the word “debt”, most aren’t thinking about government borrowing. They’re thinking about housing.

And yes, Australia’s household debt levels are enormous, sitting at around 210% of income.

But Mousina makes an important point that often gets lost in the debate.

“High debt needs to be seen in context. Large stockpiles of wealth - the difference between assets and liabilities - provide a buffer.”

That buffer is huge - Australia’s household wealth sits at around 513% of income.

In other words, Australians owe a lot, but they also own a lot - particularly through property and superannuation.

It doesn’t magically fix affordability issues for younger generations. But it does make the economy more resilient than the national mood often suggests.

#5 - Australia’s labour market is quietly pulling off a miracle

Perhaps the most underappreciated achievement in the Australian economy right now is unemployment.

Inflation surged. Interest rates exploded higher. Debt repayments spiked. Economic growth slowed sharply. Historically, this is the point where countries start shedding jobs aggressively. 

But once again, the Lucky Country largely defied the dark macro clouds gathering overseas.

“Australia’s success in keeping employment high and unemployment low during the period of rising rates and slow growth is a big success story.”

“The unemployment rate still remains near a 50-year low while unemployment in most other countries is back up again to pre-pandemic levels.”

And yet, despite this, the public mood increasingly resembles a country preparing for economic armageddon.

#6 - Don't worry, be happy!

For a country that constantly sounds like it’s on the verge of collapse, Australians are still doing remarkably well on another important metric: happiness.

Mousina notes that Australia continues to rank strongly on the World Happiness Report, sitting comfortably above many major economies.

"Scandinavian countries continue to outperform happiness rankings, which is a long-term structural theme based on strong welfare systems, high job security and perceptions of a fair and predictable society," she notes.

Australia may not be Denmark, but we’re hardly a miserable economic wasteland either. And notably, the Brits didn’t even make the upper tier of the rankings - which is probably what happens when your national cuisine peaked at beans on toast and your summer lasts 11 minutes!

Which again raises the uncomfortable question: if one of the richest, safest and most liveable countries on Earth feels this pessimistic all the time, is the problem entirely economic - or have we just become addicted to doom-scrolling?

Is life actually so good that we simply need something to whinge about, and the CGT changes just happen to be the chosen outrage of the past week? Perhaps it’s also been too long since “the recession we had to have,” and a generation of Australians has forgotten what genuine economic pain actually looks like.

“The reality is that Australia remains a high-quality economy, with strong institutions, a stable financial system and relatively moderate policy settings."

“Perhaps the issue isn’t just the economy itself - but how we perceive it," she concludes.

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