The Albanese government must stop gaslighting Australians about the state of the economy, public finances and the dire implications for future generations.

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The 2026 Intergenerational Report (IGR) is a prime example. It took only a fortnight for 40-year forecasts to fall apart. The IGR, forced to project a positive story the facts didn't sustain, couldn't withstand routine scrutiny - and it's extraordinary it was ever expected to.

The purpose of the IGR has, traditionally, been to warn Australians of the horrors awaiting if we don't shape up and fly right. But this year it had a different purpose: to present a vision of the future we're building now.

The problem is: the vision is beset with flimsy assumptions and circular logic.

The obvious flaws have been well canvassed. The IGR assumes productivity growth will average 1.2 per cent over the next 40 years, based on a historical average reaching back 30 years - not the 20 years used in the 2023 IGR - thereby capturing the stronger productivity of the 1990s.

The 1.2 per cent long-term assumption for productivity growth is in line with official forecasts for the US and UK but ignores Australia's recent underperformance.

It contrasts with the absence of any productivity gain here since 2019, federal policies that damage productivity and little business investment outside the data centre boom.

This boom faces significant challenges as the government simultaneously piles its hopes into an AI-driven future while throwing up obstacles to slow it.

Mandating that data centres use renewable energy increases the cost and complexity of bringing new facilities online.

The government assumes enormous productivity gains from AI at the same time it promises unions that workers will be protected against the inevitable effect on the labour market.

In any case, the labour market will - according to the IGR - be increasingly dominated by........

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