Bernard Salt on why the pursuit of lifestyle is the key to Australia's consumer psyche

Welcome to an audio-led edition of Unmade. Today’s conversation features demographer Bernard Salt on what really motivates Australians. Further down, the Unmade Index takes a breather after Nine’s financial results were no worse than expected.We’ve upgraded Unmade’s membership. Annual members now get a free ticket to all of our events. That includes REmade - Retail Media Unmade on October 1; Unlock on October 31; our Compass series in November; and HumAIn next year.Your membership also includes members-only content, access to our paywalled archives and your own copy of Media Unmade. Upgrade today.Has Australia got it too good to be great?As the lockdowns of Covid fade in people’s memories, some of the changes in trajectory are permanent, observes demographer and columnist Bernard Salt. Technology adoption and the pursuit of more space for home working remain. The Zoom room now takes priority over the pool room.However, pursuit of quality of life was a longer term, underlying Australian trait, possibly driven by enjoying a more benevolent climate than European settlers had known.“We're a free, open, easy, sporty, home-focused people, quality of life-focused people,” says Salt. “And it ain't going away. It was there in the 1950s. It'll be there in the 2050s.”Another factor that shaped Australia’s destiny is geology, says Salt in his conversation with Unmade’s Tim Burrowes. While the more populous US was driven by farming, much of central Australia lacks the rick soils that would have been needed to settle it through intensive agriculture.The conversation also covers how consumer mindset changes depending on life stage.And in a question that was covered before this week’s news that the government has controversially closed the door on new topics for the next census, Salt explains why he wants to know more about the rise of pet ownership alongside the loneliness epidemic.* Boomtown is running a webinar today at 10am Eastern featuring Salt’s presentation at the Boomtown breakfast event a fortnight ago.Unmade Index flat as Nine offers no more bad newsThe Unmade Index stood still on Wednesday with the market offering a sigh of relief that Nine’s annual financial results were no worse than expected. The index lost just 0.1 points, to land on 456.5 points.Nine finished the day up by 0.75% to a market capitalisation of $2.1bn. Seven West Media gained 2.94%.The Market Limited, owner of Hot Copper, Gumtree and Carsguide, jumped nearly 30% despite reporting a drastic fall in profitability.Today’s podcast was edited by Abe’s Audio.We’ll be back with more soon, including a deeper dive into the Nine numbers.If you’re interested in retail media, don’t forget that our call for entries for the REmade Awards is live only until the end of the weekend.Toodlepip…Tim BurrowesPublisher - [email protected] This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit unmade.substack.com