Leanne Greening has just enough money each week to put a roof over her head and pay her bills.
Greening, who is a carer for her two autistic children, is one of a growing number of Australians grappling with the rapidly rising cost of living coupled with a rental crisis hitting regional and urban centres.
“I often rely on charities, even just to buy clothes,” she says.
“The cost of living has gone crazy … I don’t always manage to make ends meet. Basically I’m alive, and that’s it.”
She doesn’t have a budget for food, petrol or emergencies beyond whatever’s left after rent for her transitional property on Melbourne’s outskirts is deducted from her Centrelink carer’s payment.
Greening’s weekly shop used to cost about $100. Now, it has swelled beyond $200, despite buying in bulk and relying on specials. At the same time, her electricity bill has risen by a third, and her gas bill has risen by $100 a month, which she fears will spike further over winter.
“If we have meat it’s mince and sausages because that’s all we can afford. We try not to put the heater on and things like that because it just makes the bills go higher,” she says.
“And petrol has doubled. My oldest son says he’s working to pay his fuel bill.”
New inflation figures released on Wednesday showed the largest annual rises since the introduction of GST.
The consumer price index (CPI) hit 5.1% annually and increased by 2.1% compared to the last quarter in December 2021.
The greatest increases were in fuel, which rose by 11% in the quarter, new dwellings (up by 5.7%) and tertiary education (up by 6.3%), in part due to continued supply shortages and flow on from Russia’s invasion of Ukraine.
Prices for food and other grocery items also saw a significant rise, with vegetables up by 6.6% quarterly, non-durable household items like toilet paper up by 6.7% and beef up by 7.6%.
Those struggling with rising costs say the government isn’t doing enough.
This year’s federal budget offered one-off payments of $250 for pensioners and concession card holders and up to $420 for middle-income workers.
It also halved the fuel excise for a limited six-month period – saving about $15 on the average price for a tank of petrol.
But industry bodies have dismissed the cash splash as providing only modest relief to address sharp rises in the cost of living while overlooking those already on low income support payments.
The Australian Council of Social Service (Acoss) CEO, Cassandra Goldie, says the handouts were a “disappointing … temporary fix” to long-term challenges.
Acoss has called on major parties to raise the “punishingly low” income support rate of $46 a day to at least $70 for jobseeker and other payments, and to provide additional support to single parents, people with a disability and private renters.
If elected, Labor has committed to a $10bn social housing fund which would build 30,000 new social and affordable housing properties over the next five years. It would also introduce a national housing and homelessness plan.
In his budget reply speech the shadow treasurer, Jim Chalmers, flagged Labor would consider further support to ease cost of living pressures if necessary, once the temporary cut to fuel excise ends in September.
But neither major party has agreed to raising the jobseeker rate in the next federal budget.
Acoss is also pushing for greater investment in essential services and a wages boost for those in the lowest 40% bracket – predominantly women.
Of approximately 2.4 million people relying on income support as their primary source of income – two-thirds are women.
Goldie says soaring rent prices, coupled with a lack of social housing and available private rentals, are forcing more people into homelessness and financial hardship.
“For anyone on a low income, the biggest cost is your housing,” she says.
“You don’t get a more important protector of good mental health than having basic security … a place to live, and enough income to cover the essentials.”
The cost of living is accelerating at an even higher rate in regional Australia – 4.1% in the 12 months to December 2021 compared to 3.1% in Sydney and 2.5% in Melbourne.
Rebecca Goldsmith is grappling with the prospect of homelessness after being given 30 days notice to vacate her property in the Victorian town of Swan Hill.
A pregnant mother of three toddlers, she says prices have been rising since Covid hit.
“The rental crisis is bullshit,” she says. “I can’t even get public housing as there’s none vacant.
“A three bedroom in my area used to be around $250 a week. Now they are anywhere between $300 and $420.”
Goldsmith has limited her driving due to fuel prices, and is worried about the expense of moving her items to a storage unit. She says she can’t understand why extra payments provided to receivers of income support throughout Covid were pulled while people were still struggling.
“They stopped them while the cost of living increased,” she says.
“Supermarket prices have gone up. I used to be able to do my shopping for like $250 a week. Now I’m spending close to $350, $400. It doesn’t make any sense.
“I’m facing the prospect of living in a caravan.”
For 70-year-old grandmother Kaye Thistleton, despite living on an aged pension, she’s been priced out of the Bega area in New South Wales and is downsizing to make ends meet.
“I’m at the stage of my life where I’m starting to need more support, not less,” she says. “It’s horrific.”
Thistleton has been searching for a rental property since being issued with a lease termination notice during lockdown last year.
Her region has faced a severe housing crisis for years, exacerbated by bushfires and floods, and reaching a crisis point with the pandemic.
Meanwhile, Thistelton’s daughter has been paying $600 a week for a motel room for her and her 13-year-old son after their rental property became infested with black mould. Returning from visiting them, Thistelton regularly bursts into tears.
“I have no savings, my age pension is it, I can’t say ‘here’s $5,000 go and put a bond on a house,’” she says.
Thistleton says she’s had to let go of certain things she once took for granted.
“I’ve had to pull my belt in really hard … I live frugally anyway but now it’s a matter of standing at the supermarket shelves and working out which is the cheapest product to buy,” she says.
“I’ve cancelled different services, I have the internet here but I’m thinking of cutting it back. I look around thinking ‘can I sell this, can I sell that’?
“I barely drive any more with fuel prices going up. I get a $250 fuel voucher for 12 months … if I’m going to town, I’ve got to do everything I possibly can in one trip.”
Thistelton’s biggest fear is for her grandson, who grapples with the uncertainty of homelessness.
“He’s on this rollercoaster,” she says.
“I just despair for him … we must be able to tuck our kids into a house with a roof every single night of their lives, and that’s not happening.
“We’re out of sight, out of mind, like an iceberg. You see a tip but you can’t see what’s underneath the surface: old people, children, babies that are homeless.”
