Aussies Hit Record Low Satisfaction, AI Fears Surge

0:00It's April 19th. Welcome in. This is Adelaide News today, where local news meets AI. I'm Cory with the story. Australians just hit record low life satisfaction, even dipping below COVID lockdown levels according to the latest Australian national university. Survey. This covers more than 3600 people from December 2025 to March 2026. Blame it on the Middle East War, closing the strait of Hormuz, spiking fuel prices everywhere. Fuel costs jump fast, hitting drivers and jacking up goods transport, with bigger economic kits looming. This poll came right after the Bondi terrorist attack, too, capturing that fresh wave of worry. Even with unemployment just over 4%, a solid low, more than a quarter of workers think they'll lose their job in the next 12 months. AI fears are huge now, nearly tripling since 2018, especially after tech giant Atlassian cut 500 Australian jobs due to AI shifts. Professor Nicholas Biddle calls that a country under real strain, with life satisfaction dropping

1:04steadily, not just crashing suddenly. Yet democracy holds strong, nearly two-thirds still rated as working well, and migrants from non-English backgrounds back, it just as much, feeling. Our upbeat about Australia's path ahead.