Article: Cost of living in Queensland rises $1200 a year

[ozbob]

From the Sunday Mail click here!

Cost of living in Queensland rises $1200 a year

Cost of living in Queensland rises $1200 a year

    * by Kelmeny Fraser
    * From: The Sunday Mail (Qld)
    * May 30, 2010 12:00AM

HOUSEHOLDS already under financial pressure will have to find an extra $1200 to make ends meet this year, a <i>Sunday Mail</i> investigation has found.

Friday's announcement of a 13.29 per cent hike in electricity charges in Queensland comes on top of spiralling water bills, council rates and home loan repayments.

Climbing food expenses, childcare fees, road tolls, car registration bills and public transport fees are also impacting heavily on family budgets.

One in four households now admit they could be late paying some bills this year.

A study by credit reporting agency Dun & Bradstreet last week also found one in four would most probably miss a mortgage payment if they found themselves short of cash.

Of particular concern is the trend of living costs outpacing inflation.

Most vulnerable are pensioners and so-called working families, who have had to cut spending on everything from clothes to entertainment.

In the past 12 years, day-to-day expenses for aged pensioners soared 45.4 per cent, compared to a 41.3 per cent rise in inflation.

The last increase in single aged pensions was just $65 a fortnight in September, 2009.

The 13.29 per cent hike in electricity prices approved by the Queensland Competition Authority on Friday is the latest blow to battler budgets, and follows similar jumps in car registration and water bills.

Householders have also been warned to brace for a hefty increase in council rates.

Local Government Association of Queensland executive director Greg Hallam said council rates were likely to rise between 6-7 per cent in July, but could be higher in mining boom towns due to infrastructure demands.

Australian Bureau of Statistics data reveals that aged pensioners are the most vulnerable.

But working Queenslanders are also at great risk because of their vulnerability to climbing interest rates. Living costs for this group have outpaced inflation for the past six months after a sudden surge late last year.

An average family living in the southeast corner will have to dig deep for at least $1200 more in the next financial year just to cover rising water bills, council rates, home loan repayments, power bill rises and petrol costs.

A Brisbane family with a $300,000 mortgage can expect to pay $576 extra in repayments over the year should there be another quarter of a per cent rise, plus at least $100 extra for council rates and $62 more for water.

Rising food prices are making a big dent in family finances, with some staple items such as bread and tomatoes jumping between 38 per cent and 53 per cent since 2004.

Childcare is also expected to become more costly due to new standards introduced by the Federal Government to boost quality of care. Queensland childcare centres have warned of a 13 per cent hike to pay for the changes.

Director of the Queensland Council of Social Service Jill Lang said more government concessions were needed to help those most in need.

"Queensland is the only state that does not provide public transport concessions for the unemployed, and one of only two states that does not extend electricity and gas concessions to the unemployed," she said.

RACQ spokesman Jim Kershaw said Queensland was now the most expensive state to own a car after the scrapping of the fuel subsidy and hikes in vehicle registration fees, with most motorists $220 a year worse off.

"That double-hit to motorists' wallets is combined with the imposition of tolls on roads, bridges and tunnels, and the impending threat of additional costs generated by the ethanol fuel mandate later this year," Mr Kershaw said.

Public transport fares are also rising – with some go card fares expected to rise 75 per cent by 2014.

Griffith University urban researcher Jago Dodson said town planners were slow to adapt.

"We are still designing our cities to be dependent on petroleum," he said.

[Jon Bryant]

This shows that we are building unsustainable cities economically.  Our cities need to be far more efficient and thus less to operate.  We are paying for the current inefficiencies through the hip pocket.

[#Metro]

Griffith University urban researcher Jago Dodson said town planners were slow to adapt.

"We are still designing our cities to be dependent on petroleum," he said.

What are these "experts" doing!!!!