Category Archives: Cost of living crisis

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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Inflation data isn’t all sunshine and rainbows for Labor – as Biden and Democrats will attest

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While a pre-election rate cut is widely seen as positive for incumbent governments, it doesn’t necessarily represent a path to victory in itself

The Reserve Bank of Australia is designed to be independent of government, but that does not mean its decisions do not have political consequences.

After Wednesday’s better-than-expected inflation reading, there is now broad consensus among economists that the RBA will cut interest rates next month.

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Australia news live: Angus Taylor says cost-of-living pain ‘far from over’ despite inflation falling to three-year low

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Labor adds homelessness focus to disability strategy

Australians with disabilities experiencing homelessness will be prioritised as the government commits to disability reforms, months after a scathing royal commission into the sector, AAP reports.

For the first time, they also include a number of national actions that all governments will work on together, with the disability community, to ensure people with disability right across Australia experience the benefits.

Some students, especially those in our cities, can see a career in agriculture as something that’s only for those who live in the regions or for those whose family own land that can be used to operate an agribusiness.

AgConnections aims to break down these misconceptions and build on the diversity of the industry, by highlighting and encouraging women and Indigenous Australians wanting to pursue a career in agriculture.

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Australia’s underlying inflation rate falls to 3.2% to bolster case for RBA rate cut next month

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Consumer price index dropped to 2.4% in December quarter, according to ABS figures released on Wednesday

Australia’s underlying inflation rate has fallen to a three-year low of 3.2%, bolstering the case for a rate cut next month that would provide a dopamine hit to the government ahead of a cost-of-living election.

The Reserve Bank of Australia’s preferred inflation gauge, which strips out volatile price swings, fell to an annual 3.2% for the December quarter, down from 3.5%.

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Inflation figures to ‘make or break’ the case for an Australian pre-election February rate cut

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Release of December quarterly CPI may be the most politically consequential set of numbers in recent times

Inflation figures due out on Wednesday could “make or break” the case for a pre-election rate cut next month, according to economists, in one of the most politically consequential set of numbers of recent times.

The market is pricing in an 84% chance of a 25 basis-point rate cut when the Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) meets mid-next month, although those odds will rise or fall based on the December quarterly consumer price index.

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Third arrest after alleged assault on police officers in Sydney – as it happened

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AFP warns parents over rise in AI-generated child abuse material

There has been an increase in the use of AI-generated child abuse material in the past year, including students creating material like deepfakes to harass or embarrass classmates, the Australian Centre to Counter Child Exploitation has said.

Children and young people are curious by nature, however, anything that depicts the abuse of someone under the age of 18 – whether that’s videos, images, drawings or stories – is child abuse material, irrespective of whether it is ‘real’ or not.

The AFP encourages all parents and guardians to have open and honest conversations with their child on this topic, particularly as AI technology continues to become increasingly accessible and integrated into platforms and products.

As a society, I think that it demonstrates the need for us to place a high value collectively on a civil political discourse, rather than an extreme one.

I wasn’t surprised to learn that of the 16 arrests, only one person was from South Australia and the rest were scattered from all over the country and for whatever reason, decided to convene in Adelaide.

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Where can Labor turn for ideas on how to win the Australian election? How about Mexico?

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The ALP could follow the Mexican example where an incumbent won an election in a cost-of-living crisis by combining radical policies with symbolic measures

Last year, as an anti-incumbent wave swept the globe, Mexico’s ruling leftwing Morena party recorded a landslide victory.

Those who study Latin American politics say the result offers lessons for Australia’s Labor government in its quest to buck the global trend and retain power at this year’s general election.

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Albanese plans cash boost for apprentice tradies amid doubts over Labor housing target

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PM to promise $10,000 payments to keep young people in construction as cost of living blamed for a shortfall in builders

Apprentice tradies stand to get an extra $10,000 from a re-elected Labor government as Anthony Albanese tries to encourage more young people into construction to help build the 1.2m homes he promised by 2030.

The prime minister will make the $626m promise at the National Press Club on Friday, in his first major speech for the year which will set out Labor’s re-election bid.

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Australia news live: second child dies after Tasmania house fire; mental health ward closures begin in NSW after mass resignation of psychiatrists

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The foreign affairs minister, Penny Wong, says it was a “privilege and honour” to be the first Australian foreign minister to “be invited and to attend an inauguration on behalf of our country”.

She spoke with the Today show from Washington DC, where she attended Donald Trump’s inauguration.

My message here in Washington to those I meet is to point out the reality of the economic relationship between Australia and the United States, that there is a surplus in America’s favour. There has been for decades. In fact, it’s about two to one. And of those exports from Australia that come here, about half of them go into the US production.

As we know, the Wall Street Journal is obviously reporting, now [Trump is] going to review the trade situation and then look at what sort of tariff changes need to be made.

We need to make sure that our foreign affairs ministry, our trade minister and our ambassador are deeply engaged in that review process to make sure our national interest is upheld.

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Motorists able to lock in low petrol prices for 24 hours under Victoria’s new ‘fair fuel’ plan

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State government will force 1,500 petrol stations to report fuel prices a day in advance under ‘cost-of-living shake-up’

Petrol stations in Victoria will be forced to publicly report their fuel prices a day before they come into effect, with motorists then able to lock them in for 24 hours, under a “cost-of-living shake-up” announced by the state government.

The Victorian premier, Jacinta Allan, on Monday announced her “fair fuel-price plan” in Werribee, in Melbourne’s outer west, ahead of a crucial byelection in the area next month.

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Australia news live: Allan defends Victoria after it’s named worst state for business; Burke to meet Indonesian minister over Bali Nine

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The Victorian premier has defended the state’s business credentials saying there’s key data missing from the Business Council of Australia’s report. Follow today’s news headlines live

Weather check shows mixed conditions forecast across Australian cities

It’s a mixed, if warm, bag in capital cities today, with the Bureau of Meteorology forecasting storms in Melbourne, sunny skies in Brisbane and Adelaide and showers across all other major cities.

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Grill’d was able to pay Arda $3 less than minimum wage. Unions want this youth ‘loophole’ abolished

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Advocates argue it’s time for young people’s wages to rise but business groups claim paying more will push some companies into insolvency

Arda Konstantine could vote, drink and drive a car. But as they were 19 years old, their employer, Grill’d, was legally able to pay them just $16.50 an hour – $3.38 less than the hourly national minimum for their age.

If Konstantine worked at the fast food chain’s airport store, their rate bumped up an extra $2. While employed at Grill’d, Konstantine never got weekend or public holiday rates.

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Guardian Essential poll: election warning signs for Labor as voters flunk government on housing costs and wages

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But survey finds strong support for under-16s social media ban, despite concerns about how to enforce it

Voters have given the Albanese government an F on containing housing costs and surprisingly little credit for increasing wages in two troubling signs for Labor heading into a cost-of-living election.

Those are the results of the latest Guardian Essential poll of 1,123 voters, which found strong support for social media regulation, including two-thirds in favour of the under-16 age ban.

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Greens say leaked pokies reform report ‘a huge concern’ – as it happened

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Heatwave conditions are building over parts of Victoria and New South Wales today.

According to the Bureau of Meteorology, much of Victoria will experience heatwave conditions, with maximum temperatures in the mid to high 30s.

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Greece faces general strike as workers protest cost of living squeeze

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Unions demand ‘dignified wages’ as unequal recovery from debt crisis has left many struggling with higher costs

A nationwide strike by public- and private-sector employees looks likely to paralyse Greece on Wednesday as the pro-business government of the prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, comes under increased pressure to deal with a worsening cost of living crisis.

Unions demanding “dignified wages” in the face of soaring consumer costs and widening wealth inequality vowed that the 24-hour strike would bring the country to a standstill, with protest rallies planned in cities countrywide.

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Australia politics live: Dutton calls Labor’s international student caps bill ‘a dog’s breakfast’; RBA fuels expectations for February interest rates cut

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First investment announced as part of National Reconstruction Fund

The science and industry minister, Ed Husic, was on ABC News Breakfast to discuss the government’s first investment via the National Reconstruction Fund – $40m to a Toowoomba mineral processing factory.

The difference in terms of what the [NRF] does is it provides loans, equity, and guarantees to firms that are [working across] seven priority areas to expand and grow their operations.

Given the sizes of the investments, it does take more time to be able to go through to shape up what the investment will look like, how big it’ll be, over what term, the rate of return – because the other important thing to stress to viewers is – this is not about handing out grants, and certainly not doing it on the basis of political colour-coded spreadsheets as we saw with the last government.

In fact, the social media users were less likely to have a negative attitude towards Jewish and Muslim people, irrespective of where they were on the political spectrum.

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