Karen Andrews (McPherson, Liberal Party) Share this | Hansard source

Almost every single day, hardworking Australians speak to me about the cost of living, and they have multiple concerns. For some, it's the very high cost of their mortgages, and their struggles to pay their mortgages and to provide anything but the essentials for themselves and for their families. For others, it's their struggle to find somewhere to rent, and if they're lucky enough to find somewhere to live, the rental cost makes it so hard for them to be able to afford it and, again, provide more than simply the essentials for themselves and for their families. I will come back to the issue of housing affordability shortly.

Everyone is facing rising costs of food and electricity, and there are more examples of people having to reduce their food budget simply because they can afford less now than they used to. I'm hearing all too often that people are buying, for example, cheaper cuts of meat instead of seafood, or the lowest-cost grocery items that they can find, and in some cases they're actually going without, simply to get by. I'm hearing from retailers that people are buying less and that they are having to reduce their margins simply to move stock and stay afloat. There are some interesting articles that have been published recently, and one that I read while I was preparing for tonight's speech was written by business reporter Kate Ainsworth. She included some information and some data that was released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics earlier this week which shows retail sales have continued to flatline since the start of the year. She goes on to say:

Collectively, Australians spent $19.5 million less on clothing, footwear and personal accessories in April. Compared to March, spending in this category declined by 0.7 per cent.

Spending on household goods increased by $37.7 million, or 0.7 per cent in April, and retail spending across the country is 1.3 per cent higher than it was a year ago, albeit driven by a population that's around 2.5 per cent larger.

She went on to quote Paul Zahra, the chief executive of the Australian Retailers Association, who said, 'There's a lot of window shopping going on, that's about it.' That's what we're seeing on the Gold Coast.

I'm certainly hearing that sales in the hospitality sector are worsening. Four to six months ago, people were reducing the amount that they spent but were still going to coffee shops and restaurants. Now, I'm hearing that customer numbers are down, and this further reduces the amount of revenue that owners are able to receive—they're starting to think about what they can do, and that includes reducing the hours of the staff they have employed there. The impacts of the cost-of-living crisis in which we find ourselves are becoming more and more severe.

I return to the issue relating to housing affordability, including homeownership and rentals. For some context, my electorate of McPherson is on the southern end of the Gold Coast, from Clear Island Waters and Merrimac in the north right through to the New South Wales-Queensland border at Coolangatta. What do prices look like in my electorate at the moment? For rentals, in Robina, which is towards the northern part of my electorate, around the middle of the Gold Coast, a three-bedroom, two-bathroom house will cost you upwards of about $785 a week. At the southern end of the electorate, at Coolangatta, a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house will cost you upwards of around $875 per week to rent. At Elanora, which is a popular suburb for families, a three-bedroom, one-bathroom house will cost you around $850 per week. If you then start to look at the cost to purchase, it's variable, clearly, across the coast. But if you're looking at a three-bedroom townhouse, you're looking at upwards of $750,000, and that is well away from the popular coastal strip.

While there is an increase in construction along the Gold Coast, it is right along the Gold Coast highway, which is not affordable for many people on the Gold Coast. It is designed primarily for the tourist population to come and visit the Gold Coast—which is important, but it means locals are being pushed further west, where there is limited-to-no public transport available, so they need to factor that in as well. I call on all levels of government to work together to solve what is now a cost-of-living crisis in this country.

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