NewsBite

Cost of living

Advertisement
The Australian economy is facing a number of headwinds.

If you get the sense inflation is a little off, you’re probably right

The consumer price index isn’t an accurate measure of our cost of living – although we all assume it is.

  • Millie Muroi

Latest

One Up Building co-owner Nick Simmons says labour shortages are starting to ease.

Here’s what you need to know from the latest inflation figures

It’s good news for vegetarians and those looking to build a new home, but bad news for those who love an omelette.

  • Millie Muroi, Shane Wright and Cassandra Morgan
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese.

It’s the number everyone is waiting for, including the PM

Key inflation figures are expected to show price pressures at their lowest level in three years, paving the way for a pre-election interest rate cut.

  • Shane Wright
Inflation for the December quarter was at its lowest level for three years.

Rate cut on the cards, opening door to April election date

Australia’s inflation rate has fallen to its lowest level in more than three years, paving the way for the Reserve Bank to deliver an interest rate cut in February.

  • Shane Wright and Millie Muroi

This could be the year voters get their priorities wrong

A protest vote on the cost of living will achieve little. The best election outcome would be a minority government dependent on the support of those who get the urgency of climate action.

  • Ross Gittins
Household spending on pool sales and services increased in the past year as Australians are keen to swim over hot summers.

Budget ways to install a pool to cool down this summer

Pool sales and services increased in the past year as households are keen to swim in their backyards. But there are ways to keep costs down in this economy.

  • Caroline Zielinski
Advertisement
Treasurer Jim Chalmers said Australians would be under much more pressure under Peter Dutton.

Labor says you’d be $7200 worse off under Dutton. It makes several assumptions

Treasurer Jim Chalmers says households would be thousands of dollars worse off without Labor’s cost-of-living help. His opposite number says that’s nonsense.

  • Millie Muroi
Joanne Cockle stresses constantly about paying for appointments for herself and her two children with autism (she cancelled a specialist appointment before christmas because she couldn’t afford the $380 gap fee). More than half of people in NSW reported their mental health was worse because of cost of living pressures, a new survey has found. Bateau Bay, January 23, 2025. Photo: Rhett Wyman / SMH

NSW is in a cost-of-living crisis. Here’s what it is doing to our health

Joanne Cockle cancelled a specialist appointment because she couldn’t afford the $380 gap fee. Balancing her own needs with those of her two children is a constant stress.

  • Angus Thomson
Opposition Leader Peter Dutton now holds a lead as preferred prime minister over incumbent Anthony Albanese.

Voters swing to Dutton as Australians expect to be worse off in 2025

Peter Dutton leads Anthony Albanese as preferred prime minister, ahead by 39 to 34 per cent after being tied on the key question at the end of last year.

  • David Crowe
Resident John Patmore who has lived in his Paddington boarding house apartment for 17 years.

John will be evicted from his ‘forever home’. He has nowhere to go

He is one of 32 battlers in the Paddington boarding houses that will have locks changed and power cut on February 1 before redevelopment into luxury houses.

  • Sue Williams

Original URL: https://www.smh.com.au/topic/cost-of-living-jfq