Election 2025: Anthony Albanese’s ‘economist’ credentials come under fire

Economists are questioning the Prime Minister’s claim that he is part of their ranks after another gaffe on key figures, following infamous failures in the last federal campaign.

Anthony Albanese In Perth on Thursday. Picture: Jason Edwards / NewsWire

You can now listen to The Australian's articles. Give us your feedback.

You can now listen to The Australian's articles.

Anthony Albanese — who this week labelled himself an economist — has wrongly declared both headline and underlying inflation have fallen into the Reserve Bank’s target band for the “first time in a couple of decades”, as the discipline of the Labor campaign begins to falter days out from the election.

The Prime Minister’s credentials as a self-proclaimed economist have come into question after yet another election campaign gaffe on economic figures, following his infamous failure in the last campaign to name the cash rate and the unemployment rate.

Treasurer Jim Chalmers on Wednesday accurately pointed out both the headline and underlying inflation rates were within the RBA’s 2-3 per cent target band for the first time since 2021.

AMP chief economist Shane Oliver said Mr Albanese’s claim on inflation was “not correct”.

“Not a couple of decades,” Mr Oliver said.

“It is the first time since 2021 we’ve had both in the target band.”

While Mr Albanese referred to himself as an economist at the National Press Club on Wednesday, Mr Oliver said practising economists would not usually make mistakes about inflation, unemployment or the cash rate.

“Most practising economists would know those things because they are the things they deal with day to day,” he said.

“So you would normally be expected to remember them.”

Mr Oliver said it was a “judgement call” over whether a prime minister with an economics degree qualified as an economist.

“I think a treasurer would be closer to it. The ambit of a prime minister is a lot broader than just economics,” he said.

“I suppose if you have an economics degree you could say you are an economist. But that would be a bit like saying you are a medical doctor just because you have got the degree.

“There are lots of people who have law degrees but they wouldn’t call themselves lawyers because they are not practising.”

Independent economist Saul Eslake said “just because you have an economics degree it does not make you an economist”.

On Wednesday, Mr Albanese used the reference while defending his government’s fiscal record as it comes under criticism from many economists.

“Well, this economist here has noticed that many economists say you can’t get inflation down without a huge spike in unemployment and leaving people behind,” Mr Albanese said.

“You can’t get inflation down without smashing real wages. That’s what a whole lot of economists would say. They’ve been proven wrong.”

Mr Albanese also referred to himself as a “market economist” in a speech to the NPC in 2021.

Mr Albanese completed an economics degree at the University of Sydney in 1984, where he studied both “orthodox economics and political economy”.

He was a key protester against moves from the university’s economics department head, the late Warren Hogan, to junk political economy courses as part of the degree.

Mr Eslake said Mr Albanese had a habit of “shooting the messenger”, noting his “mocking” this week of S&P for warning Australia’s credit rating was at risk.

He said Mr Albanese’s broad criticism of economists was unfair — given he had praised the government for lowering inflation while keeping unemployment low — and was “kind of bullying”.

“His degree was from Sydney University … at a time when (its) economic faculty was known to be a hotbed of left-wing economics,” he said.

“Albanese would have learnt things that reinforced his political prejudices at the time.

“Someone with a degree in economics from Sydney University in the 1970s or 80s would probably not be taken as seriously as someone with an economics degree from UNSW, or ANU or Melbourne, or Monash, or UQ or Flinders etc.”

Judobank chief economics adviser Warren Hogan — whose father of the same name tried to reform the economics course at Mr Albanese’s university — said the Prime Minister did not act like an economist.

“I don’t think he has ever practised being an economist,” Mr Hogan said.

“There are a lot of people with economic degrees who aren’t economists.”

Speaking to the ABC on Wednesday, Mr Albanese said this week’s figures showing underlying inflation had fallen to 2.9 per cent in the year to March were “very very good”.

“The first time in a couple of decades you’ve had both of the figures – essentially 2.4 and 2.9 for underlying and for the base inflation rate – being within the Reserve Bank band,” Mr Albanese said.