Paul McKeown

Cost of Living Crisis​

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Everybody I speak to says the price of their weekly shop is now killing them. In fact the price of everything seems to have gone up and our dollar just doesn't go far anymore at all. ​

 

High inflation, aggressive interest rate rises, soaring electricity prices, rising insurance premiums and the list goes on...are all taking their toll!

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Rent affordability is also crippling Sunshine Coasters. The lack of affordable accommodation is driving away our kids, who once they leave home can't afford live in the in the region they grew up in... and it is driving away our workers - hurting small businesses and reducing our services. 

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As living costs increase, families are burdened with massive pressures, and many are beginning to do without the things necessary for a happy and healthy life. This situation is causing chronic stress which is affecting people's physical and mental health, further reducing productivity and happiness.

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The situation is reaching crisis point and must be addressed!

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​Economics is a very complex field and not always intuitive, but you don't need to be an expert to know that something is going very very wrong...

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The difficult news is - the problems causing the cost of living crisis are not straight forward, I believe they are the very deep seated results of poor government management and neglect over decades, and sadly there is no quick fix.

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Cash hand-outs or subsidies on things like electricity bills, are like a sugar hit - they feel good for a moment, but don't address the underlying problems, and ultimately make things worse. Arbitrarily driving up wages as an 'antidote' to high prices has the same unintended effect, and it causes small business to collapse.

 

Hard as it is, if we genuinely want to fix the cost of living crisis, we need to fix the root causes .

 

Here are my thoughts:

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​It is imperative we reduce wasteful government spending - (i.e. spending that does not return a value for us in terms of productivity), and we must immediately reduce immigration to a sustainable level while we build the infrastructure needed to support it.

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We've been riding on the back of a rapidly growing China economy for years now which has camouflaged some of our serious economic problems - Put simply, we've put all our eggs in one basket and become lazy on the easy money. Well, China is slowing, and the holes in our system are beginning to show. Australia must now act quickly to diversify our national income streams so that we are not as reliant on the export of natural resources for our economic growth.

 

Boosting our manufacturing capacity and agricultural output are two ways to achieve this, but there are many more, and these measures need to be urgently addressed by competent people in government.

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We need to take a deep breath and assess the cost of Australia's rush to transform its energy system. We need to take a good hard look at the reasons behind the race to 'renewables', and ask if we really are doing the best thing for Australia and the environment, or just selling ourselves out for nothing?

 

Any new energy technologies should be owned and developed by us, so that we don't become reliant on other countries, and so we can keep the prices down for our industries and consumers.

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We need to stop the growth of government and our bloated and inefficient bureaucracy which costs the country money, stifles our industries in red, green and white tape... and reduces our efficiency.

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We need to look for ways to increase the amount of affordable housing, without adversely affecting the environment. Better planning will help, but also will addressing the issue of rampant property speculation and land-banking.

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But it's not all up to the government, we have to do our bit too!

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Each one of us must ensure that in so much as we are able, we are contributing productively and constructively to Australia, and not taking more than we give.

 

We should try to reduce our levels of personal debt, stop frivolously suing each other, make sure our purchases contain value, and we should shop locally, supporting our small businesses and local workers whenever we can. We should go in to work, volunteer, help our neighbours and always do our best for each other and for our country. 

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​These measures, and others, will all take courage and time - but these healthy changes to the economy, rather than the sugar hit hand-outs, are the only real way to bring down living costs and increase our population's prosperity, in a reliable way - into the future.

 

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