It’s a thumbs up from the country’s 3 million students, who can now buy cheap meals up to twice a day
Where in France can you get a nutritious and balanced three-course meal for €1?
If you are one of the country’s estimated 3 million students in higher education, the answer is: the university restaurant or cafe.
Continue reading...Brand owner Mondelēz was accused of reducing weight of Alpine Milk bar from 100g to 90g without significantly altering the packaging
Many chocolate lovers consider shrinkflation a serious crime – and they have been vindicated after a German court ruled that the makers of Milka cheated consumers by cutting the bar’s size, while keeping the wrapper the same.
The three-week case in a regional court was brought by Hamburg’s consumer protection office. It accused the chocolate brand’s US owner Mondelēz of deceiving shoppers by cutting the weight of Milka’s classic Alpine Milk bar from 100g to 90g without significantly altering the distinctive purple packaging.
Continue reading...Changes to capital gains tax and negative gearing will make the strategy of renting in a preferred area while buying a cheaper property elsewhere less attractive, experts say
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Rent-vesting – a popular strategy used by young Australians to save for their first home – could be killed off by Labor’s tax changes on investment properties, experts warn.
Renters have used the strategy to keep living in their preferred area while buying a cheaper property elsewhere, hoping it will rise in price so they can sell and put the profits towards their first home.
Continue reading...Taxpayers and first home buyers are the winners in Labor’s 2026 budget, while rich families could be among the losers. Find out who is better off and who is worse off in Chalmers’ budget
Federal budget 2026 LIVE updates: Australia government budget announcement and speech – latest news
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Being a winner or a loser from the federal budget can be the difference between hundreds of dollars – or tightening your belt even further.
Tuesday’s federal budget comes at a strange time. Donald Trump is waging a war on Iran that is impacting fuel supplies globally, including Australia. Inflation is still causing havoc on household budgets. Government programs are costing more than ever.
Continue reading...Trips in electric vehicles will be exempt from the temporary fee of 5 cents a kilometre, rideshare firm says
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Uber customers in Australia will be charged a fuel surcharge for almost two months from Wednesday unless they ride in an electric vehicle.
Trips in petrol, diesel and hybrid vehicles will attract an extra fee of 5 cents a kilometre from 15 April to 8 June, Uber announced on Monday.
Continue reading...Catherine King says while peace talks were ‘best chance’ at lowering fuel prices, further help may be included in budget
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The Albanese government is contemplating further relief for struggling households and businesses in next month’s federal budget, as peace talks continue between the US and Iran amid a fragile ceasefire.
The infrastructure minister, Catherine King, said the success of those talks was the “best chance” at bringing down fuel prices. But she warned there would be a “long tail” from the crisis even if the strait of Hormuz – which was still being blocked by Iran and strangling global oil supplies – reopened imminently.
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Penny Wong calls failed peace talks between US and Iran ‘disappointing’ and urges resumption
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Seven-year-old girl drowns at swimming spot on Brisbane River
A seven-year-old girl has drowned at a popular swimming spot on the Brisbane River in the south-west of the city, AAP reports.
Continue reading...Treasurer Jim Chalmers says changes will help with cost of living and ‘Australians hate paying’ the surcharges
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Debit and credit card surcharges will be gone by October under Reserve Bank reforms, with big banks likely to foot the bill for the cost-of-living measures.
The new rules, announced on Tuesday, will enable businesses to remove added fees on Mastercard, visa and eftpos card payments.
Continue reading...Fuel tax cuts also risk adding to inflation by enabling some households with enough income to spend more
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Fuel excise cuts would be a “political Band-aid” that could worsen petrol shortages and add to inflation, economists have warned.
The mining billionaire Gina Rinehart, Tasmania’s state premier and Liberal opposition leaders in New South Wales and Victoria have called for the Albanese government to cut the excise on petrol and diesel.
Continue reading...Exclusive: Automated systems have generated ‘cookie cutter’ responses that fail to account for individual circumstances, financial watchdog says
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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.
Continue reading...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
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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.
Continue reading...Pressure on first home buyers heightens as investors target lower-priced homes and more affordable regions
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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.
Continue reading...Falling attendance at club’s dining rooms is ‘uneconomic and dispiriting for staff members’, president says, as six-month trial starts
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“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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Continue reading...Grattan Institute finds one in 10 Australians now paying $600 a year for specialist appointments
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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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Continue reading...Hundreds of thousands of households in line for electricity bill increases with NSW customers on standing offers facing steepest rise
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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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Continue reading...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.
Continue reading...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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Continue reading...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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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.
Continue reading...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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