Category Archives: Cost of living crisis

Australian banks ignore thousands of customers’ hardship requests

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Exclusive: Automated systems have generated ‘cookie cutter’ responses that fail to account for individual circumstances, financial watchdog says

Banks are outright ignoring or offering “cookie cutter” responses to a rising number of hardship requests from struggling customers, despite repeated regulatory crackdowns.

Nearly 2,900 customers complained their bank had failed to respond to pleas for assistance in 2024-25, new data from the Australian Financial Complaints Authority (Afca) showed.

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Millions of Australians eligible for 5% first home buyers scheme may be unable to afford repayment

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Greens and experts argue policies that let first home buyers spend more than usual only creates more expensive housing – without lifting the proportion of homeowners

Millions of Australians eligible to take up the federal government’s new 5% deposit scheme could be unable to afford mortgage repayments, new analysis has shown.

Data compiled by the Parliamentary Library and commissioned by the Greens shows of the 3.8 million Australians in the top 10 most common professions in Australia, the vast majority would be unable to afford mortgage repayments on the median Australian home without falling into housing stress.

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Australian property investors squeezing out first-time buyers as record borrowing and rate cuts drive purchases

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Pressure on first home buyers heightens as investors target lower-priced homes and more affordable regions

Property investors borrowed a record sum, nearly $130bn, to buy homes over the year to June, supported by interest rate cuts but squeezing out first-time buyers.

Banks made almost 200,000 new loans to landlords over the year, the most since 2022, while the number of new first-home mortgages slipped to 116,000.

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Melbourne’s Savage Club to allow ‘lady guest’ diners as cost of living strikes men-only haven

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Falling attendance at club’s dining rooms is ‘uneconomic and dispiriting for staff members’, president says, as six-month trial starts

“Lady guests” will be welcomed into one of Australia’s oldest private clubs as the cost-of-living crisis pushes the men-only Melbourne Savage Club into a six-month trial of mixed dining.

In a survey of the club’s members last year, just 2% (four men) of respondents voted in favour of admitting women as card-carrying members, but they were keen to allow an increase in guests.

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One million Australians missing specialist doctor appointments due to cost, report finds

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Grattan Institute finds one in 10 Australians now paying $600 a year for specialist appointments

One in 10 Australians pay almost $600 each year to see specialist doctors, with 1 million delaying or skipping appointments due to the cost, according to new analysis.

A report by the Grattan Institute, released on Monday, revealed outpatient fees have soared over the past 15 years. The average initial out-of-pocket psychiatrist fee was $671 in 2023, with some “extreme fee” specialists charging more than triple the scheduled Medicare fee. It found almost 2 million Australians are delaying or skipping specialist appointments each year – about half due to cost – adding pressure to the country’s hospital systems.

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Energy bills to rise by up to 9.7% as Australian regulators approve price increases

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Hundreds of thousands of households in line for electricity bill increases with NSW customers on standing offers facing steepest rise

Power bill increases of upwards of 9% have been locked in for some Australian households as energy regulators make a final call on safety net prices.

Caps on what retailers can charge households and businesses in NSW, South Australia, south-east Queensland and Victoria are designed to protect the hundreds of thousands of customers who tend to set-and-forget their power plans.

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Anywhere but Canberra: meet some of the voters who will decide Australia’s 2025 federal election

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Guardian Australia spoke to a range of people all across the country to ask about their lives and perspectives ahead of Saturday’s ballot

Over the past three months, Guardian Australia has been speaking to ordinary people about their everyday lives – their families, work, hobbies, stressors and hopes.

These interviews have formed our Anywhere But Canberra series – a portrait of what different people across the country are dealing with in the lead up to the federal election. We wanted to see how people’s lives and perspectives shaped their votes.

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Groceries are getting more expensive at Woolworths but cheaper at Coles, report finds

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Choice price tracker finds cost of shopping at Aldi barely changed between March and December 2024 in quarterly assessment of 14 common items

The cost of groceries at Woolworths has gone up even when factoring in specials, while prices at Coles decreased and Aldi’s remained relatively stable, according to Choice’s latest supermarket price tracker.

The consumer advocacy group has released its fourth quarterly report, funded by the federal government, into supermarket prices, which it assesses by purchasing a basket of 14 common grocery items from different stores.

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PBS-listed medicine to cost no more than $25 a script if Labor re-elected

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Election pledge part of Albanese’s focus on cheaper medicines as a cost-of-living measure that will also help reduce inflation

A re-elected Labor government would reduce the price of PBS-listed medicines to no more than $25 a script, in a major new election pledge to be included in next week’s budget that builds on Anthony Albanese’s focus on cheaper medicines as a cost-of-living measure.

With the formal election campaign to start within weeks, where Labor will focus strongly on health as a key issue, Albanese will on Thursday deliver a major speech promising that four out of five medications on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme would become cheaper under the plan which would cost the government $689m.

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Communities warned to prepare as weather system takes right turn – as it happened

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This blog is now closed

Why should Australia trust president Donald Trump, given how he’s treated Ukraine’s president at the Oval Office? Richard Marles said the government’s focus was on supporting Ukraine:

That’s where Australia lies. That’s the decision that we have to make. And Ukraine can absolutely rely on Australia’s ongoing support in their defence, and we will work with international partners.

We’ve obviously worked with the United States over the last three years, and we’ll continue to do that, but we’ve worked with the United Kingdom, and we’ll continue to do that as well, and with European partners, and look at the best way in which we can provide support.

We have established a timeline with [the] Ukrainian government about the delivery of those tanks to Ukraine. Now, for operational reasons, won’t go into the detail of that timeline.

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Australia news live: Woodside doubles profits thanks to record production of oil; funnel-web spider shortage threatens antivenom program

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Australia’s largest oil and gas producer has doubled its profits to $5.6bn. Follow today’s news live

Senate estimates will be back under way today, and AAP has flagged a little of what we can expect:

Creative Australia bosses, including the chief executive, Adrian Collette, will front an estimates hearing and it’s expected they’ll be questioned about the selection body’s shock decision to ditch the Venice Biennale team.

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Australia news live: NSW health system ‘catastrophically let down’ toddler’s family, minister admits

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Two-year-old waited in emergency department for three hours before suffering a cardiac arrest and dying. Follow today’s news headlines live

Victoria to offer contactless public transport tickets from next year

Victorians will be able to use their phones, bank cards or smartwatches to pay for public transport travel from “early next year in a staged approach”, according to reports.

Following a successful start of a ticketless bus trial in Wangaratta, the Allan Labor Government will begin switching on tap-and-go technology across Victoria’s public transport network from early next year in a staged approach – meaning some passengers will soon be able to use their bank cards, phones and smart watches to travel on full fare tickets.

The new ticketing system will continue to be underpinned by extensive technical testing and will be carefully rolled out starting with rail from the beginning early next year – allowing full fare passengers more ways to pay for their travel.

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As an election looms, will Australians remember Labor for one rate cut or the 12 hikes before that?

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The Albanese government had been sweating on the RBA decision, which clears the way for an election as soon as early April

Jim Chalmers tried to say he wasn’t taking credit for the big banks dropping their interest rates, but the sense of satisfaction – or perhaps relief – among other Labor MPs was palpable in the moments after the Reserve Bank of Australia announced its cut of 25 basis points.

Labor MPs Justine Elliot and Kristy McBain, both under pressure in tough races, tweeted “breaking” updates within two minutes of the announcement. Within a few more minutes, the likes of Jerome Laxale, Josh Wilson, Pat Conroy, Shayne Neumann, Mark Butler, Helen Polley, Tony Sheldon and the retiring Graham Perrett had also taken to their social media accounts to broadcast the news.

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Australia news live: embattled casino operator Star offered $650m lifeline; name of next cyclone changed from Anthony to avoid using PM’s name

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Hume rules out working with teals if Coalition wins 70-72 seats

Jane Hume was asked whether the Coalition was in a position to form any alliances with the crossbench, amid new polling from YouGov showing neither party looks to be coming out with a clear majority.

That would cause chaos, and would cause chaos politically and economically as well.

On average, the teals have voted with the Greens around 78% of the time, with Labor around 75% of the time, and with the Coalition around 18% of the time.

I think it’s really important to look at what people do rather than what people say. We’re planning on going to this election to win the election, because Australians deserve better than what they’ve had for the last three years.

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Labor to ban foreign investors from buying existing homes for at least two years, replicating Coalition policy

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Critics cast doubt on effectiveness of policy, citing low volume of purchases by overseas buyers, as Labor seeks to improve housing affordability

Prospective home buyers will face less competition from overseas, with Labor promising to ban foreign investors from purchasing existing homes for at least two years.

But the restriction – which replicates a policy announced by the Coalition last year – will capture less than 0.4% of the housing market, casting doubts over its efficacy.

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Share of wealth held by Australia’s poorest falls by almost 30% since 2004 – report

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Study by Monash University recommends spending increase to fix inequalities in housing, health and education

The wealth held by Australia’s bottom 40% has declined by almost a third in two decades while 3.3m live below the poverty line, a damning report into Australia’s track record on quality of life shows.

Monash University’s third Transforming Australia report, released Thursday, shows progress on more than half of the 80 indicators has stalled or is in freefall, painting a deteriorating picture of the country’s social, economic and environmental wellbeing.

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Retirees who rent ‘really struggling’ financially, researchers say – and the problem is getting worse

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Two-thirds of retirees in private rentals live in poverty, Grattan report finds, with more than half reporting net worth of less than $25,000

Two in three retirees who rent privately owned homes live in poverty and the problem will get worse, a new report has found.

Most older working Australians who rent do not have sufficient savings to keep paying rent in their retirement, according to the report from the Grattan Institute.

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Australians rack up record credit card spending as growing numbers struggle to pay off debt

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Reserve Bank statistics show the national credit card debt sits at $17.8bn, up $236m in December 2024 alone

Australians racked up a record $28bn in personal credit card transactions in December, according to new data, leaving many households unable to clear debts and paying extreme interest charges.

The Reserve Bank statistics, analysed by financial comparisons site Canstar, show that Australians are struggling to clear purchases made on credit more than ever before amid persistently high living costs.

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People with insufficient home insurance more likely to risk their lives in bushfires, experts say

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Research shows in tough times people often let home and contents insurance lapse, which could lead to dangerous decision to stay

People are more likely to risk their lives in bushfires if they are uninsured or underinsured, experts have said.

In the chaos of an approaching fire, most people struggle to make rational decisions; having no house insurance could feed into making the dangerous decision to stay and protect a home, bushfire behaviour and management professor at the University of Melbourne, Trent Penman, said.

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High food prices becoming ingrained in Australian economy, analyst warns

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Economic data shows food and beverage prices still rising faster than long-term average, even as inflationary pressures ease

High food prices are now embedded in the economy, a retail analyst has warned, after new inflation data released on Wednesday.

Egg prices surged 11% last year, and the cost of cooking oil is up 7%; lamb prices have jumped 17%, while shoppers are paying about 6% more for fruit and vegetables. Beer prices have lifted by 4%.

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