Senator Dean Smith
Shadow Assistant Minister for Competition, Charities and Treasury
Liberal Senator for Western Australia
MEDIA RELEASE
2 August 2023
RECORD COST OF LIVING PAIN REVEALED IN NEW ABS DATA
Living Cost Indexes released today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics lay bare the rising cost of living under the Albanese Government, especially for working Australians.
The Indexes measure goods and services prices and their impact on five household types – including employee, age pensioner and self-funded retirees.
Annually, spanning most of the life of the Albanese Government between June 2022 and June 2023, indexes for all household types rose.
Working households experienced the highest annual rise on record, or 9.6%, based on mortgage interest increases.
Mortgage interest expenses blew out by 91.6%, another record.
In the last quarter, indexes for all five household types rose by up to 1.5%.
Insurance and financial services was the leading component, again driven by mortgage interest rate increases as well as larger insurance premiums, followed by food and non-alcoholic beverages and housing expenses.
Housing jumped as an expenditure component due to growing rents in an environment of low vacancy rates and strong demand.
Comments attributable to Senator Dean Smith:
“This ABS data makes it very clear that Jim Chalmers and the Albanese Government’s recent claims about the economy and how Australians are faring is false.”
“The data confirms all Australians have experienced significant, sometimes record, cost of living increases on Labor’s watch.
“Working Australians are worst affected, given the inevitable impact of rising interest rates – themselves the result of Labor mismanaging inflation and leaving the heavy lifting to the RBA.
“No wonder this record data corresponds to record numbers of Australians turning to charities and non-profits for support, many for the first time.
“It’s time the Albanese Government got its priorities right and focussed on addressing inflation and its effect on Australian households and those supporting them.”
ENDS