Voter Verdict: Cost of living is the key issue this federal election
The heartbreaking reality of the cost of living crisis has been revealed by everyday Australians who say they are struggling to put food on the table while some haven’t been out for dinner in a year. VIDEO
Federal Election
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Bare cupboards before payday, being forced to work two jobs and cutting back travel – undecided voters have laid bare the sacrifices they are making amid the cost-of-living crisis.
With only weeks to go before Australia heads to the polls, members of an exclusive Voter Verdict panel revealed how rising costs have impacted their lives for the worse.
WATCH THEIR STORIES IN THE PLAYER ABOVE
Karen Treloar from Basin Pocket in Queensland said she struggled to afford enough food for her family and relied on a disability pension every fortnight.
The Blair electorate voter said she cut out hairdressing appointments, had stopped going on night outs and doing recreational activities to help save up for groceries.
“We get paid fortnightly on pension disability pensions. And some weeks, we are just lucky to get through,” Ms Treloar said.
“Before we could have a whole fridge and it’d be full and I would have no more room to put things. Now … it empties out before the following week.
“We haven’t gone out to dinner on a special occasion for … over a year now, and that was my daughter’s 18th birthday.”
Ms Treloar said she felt guilty that her children had been impacted by the cost of living.
“It’s not like our kids don’t help out … but you don’t want to ask your kids for money.
“We are the ones that are supposed to look after them,” Ms Treloar said.
“I feel like I’ve robbed them sometimes. I’ve robbed them of just being able to not worry about money and just go and do something.”
Ms Treloar said both Peter Dutton and Anthony Albanese should meet the people who are struggling in the suburbs, not just in the big cities.
“Get in the suburbs where the people are struggling,” she said.
Mountain Creek retiree Gail McIntyre said soaring fuel costs had made her rethink many trips to see her children.
“They live in Brisbane, so that’s an hour and 20 minutes each way so the cost of fuel has affected me,” she said.
Ms McIntyre believed neither leader had a “real handle” on the cost of living crisis, throwing out policies to “buy votes”.
“If all these initiatives were so great, why haven’t they done them while they’re in power? Why wait until they have to buy the vote?” Ms McIntyre said.
“I’d like to see them acknowledge an overall understanding of what the majority of Australians are going through … they don’t want the promises, they want the action.”
Parag Khandeker, 43, a finance work from the electorate of Aston in Victoria said the cost of living had a major impact on his family’s life and they’ve had to let go of future dreams.
“Your normal lifestyle becomes expensive, your housing dream becomes expensive … you don’t have your savings.
“You can’t give up your food. your fixed costs and education stuff. I would say it’s not a cost of living. It’s a cost of your dreams. You have to let go your dreams.”
Meanwhile, Emily Cookson from the division of Mitchell in Sydney felt the cost of living had impacted the dating scene.
“People are going on more low-effort dates and spending less on the dates,” the Brisbane student said.
“One of my friends just got taken to a food court so you know I can see it practically in real life that everyone’s just wanting to spend less in every part of life, including dating.”
Ms Cookson said clearer, more structured policies were needed from the government to combat rising costs in Australia.
“If could say one thing about the cost of living to both leaders, I would say that it’s a very complicated struggle and that we need more clear solutions to tackle that issue,” she said.
Katie Hows, who lives in the division of Moore in Western Australia said the cost of living had forced her to sacrifice her “free time”.
Ms Hows is a chartered accountant but also works as a disability carer on weekends.
“I’m currently working six days a week, nine to twelve hours a day just to pay the mortgage. I have a half renovated house that I can’t afford to finish due to the interest rates increasing, over doubling my repayments per month,” she said.
“I am interested to know what the Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton are going to do for current homeowners.
“There’s a lot incentives and a lot changes that they’re recommending for first-time owners. However, how are they going to assist current homeowners?”
The group of everyday Australians, selected by Pollster Redbridge, called for both Anthony Albanese and Peter Dutton to produce stronger initiatives to tackle the cost of living crisis.
Every week of the campaign they rate the leaders out of ten.
This week Anthony Albanese won by less than one point.
WHO WON THE WEEK: Prime Minsiter Anthony Albanese
Albanese 5.5
Dutton 4.9
NAME: Dinesh Nagappan Anitha
AGE: 32
OCCUPATION: Engineer
ELECTORATE: Greenway, NSW
Who won the week? ALBANESE
ALBANESE: 5
DUTTON: 4
“I’ve had to make a lot of changes in my own life because of higher prices now, My wife and I have have had to cut back on our travelling and … put our budgets together to make sure that we will have enough money to spend on travelling after mortgages and everything.“
NAME: Rebecca Free
AGE: 51
OCCUPATION: Manager
ELECTORATE: Lyons, TAS
Who won the week? ALBANESE
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 5/10
DUTTON: 4/10
“The cost of running our cars and the fuel for those cars is becoming pretty astronomical and is having a big impact on our family, especially as we’re doing a fair bit of running around children.
“Incidentals that we normally have such as takeaway food or going to the movies or planning something fun for the family like heading away for the weekend. Has become less and less affordable and rarely happens now.”
NAME: Brett Terry
AGE: 56
OCCUPATION: Security officer
ELECTORATE: Holt, VIC
Who won the week? DRAW
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 5/10
DUTTON: 5/10
“I used to go out at least once a week, giving up that, giving up alcohol and just trying to cut back on the food I buy, not going out, so not filling up the car as much with petrol and not seeing family and friends as much.”
NAME: Rachel Zappia
AGE: 50
OCCUPATION: Office Manager
ELECTORATE: Reid, NSW
Who won the week? DRAW
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 7/10
DUTTON: 7/10
“If we want to do the extra things like going on a holiday every year and … and going out eating and entertainment, and having the things that we want, we need to watch what we’re spending.”
NAME: Muhammad Ahmad Ashraf
AGE: 39
OCCUPATION: IT professional
ELECTORATE: Forde, QLD
Who won the week? DUTTON
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 5/10
DUTTON: 6/10
“My family dine out far less than we used to and we have also significantly reduced our spending on entertainment, like for example movies subscriptions and etc so and also we have you know we have delayed upgrade to our household electronics.”
NAME: Emily Cookson
AGE: 24
OCCUPATION: Student
ELECTORATE: Mitchell, NSW
Who won the week? DUTTON
Score out of 10:
Albanese: 5/10
Dutton: 7/10
NAME: Karen Treloar
AGE: 56
OCCUPATION: Homemaker
ELECTORATE: Blair, QLD
Who won the week? ALBANESE
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 6/10
DUTTON: 4/10
NAME: Gail McIntyre
AGE: 63
OCCUPATION: Retired
ELECTORATE: Fairfax, QLD
Who won the week? DRAW
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 3/10
DUTTON: 3/10
NAME: Katie Hows
AGE: 30
OCCUPATION: Chartered Accountant
ELECTORATE: Moore, WA
Who won the week? DRAW
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 6/10
DUTTON: 6/10
NAME: Parag Khandekar
AGE: 43
OCCUPATION: Chartered Accountant
ELECTORATE: Aston, VIC
Who won the week? DUTTON
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 5/10
DUTTON: 6/10
NAME: Julie-anne Perich
AGE: 47
OCCUPATION: Homemaker
ELECTORATE: Barker, SA
Who won the week? ALBANESE
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 8/10
DUTTON: 2/10
NAME: Apurva Soni
AGE: 33
OCCUPATION: Project Officer
ELECTORATE: Parramatta, NSW
Who won the week? ALBANESE
Score out of 10:
ALBANESE: 6/10
DUTTON: 5/10
Originally published as Voter Verdict: Cost of living is the key issue this federal election
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