Data on what Australians are paying — fuel, groceries, insurance and everyday costs.
Not every Australian household experiences inflation the same way. A pensioner, a mortgage-holding employee, and a self-funded retiree face very different cost pressures — even when the headline CPI figure is the same. The Australian Bureau of Statistics measures this through the Selected Living Cost Indexes, which track how price changes affect specific household types…
Transport is now the fastest-rising cost category in the Australian Consumer Price Index — overtaking housing and food in the 12 months to March 2026. The spike was driven by a sudden and dramatic increase in fuel prices following global oil market disruption, but the underlying trend in transport costs had been building well before…
More than 3 million Australians carry a HECS-HELP debt, with a combined balance exceeding $78 billion. In 2025-26, the system went through the biggest set of changes in a generation — a 20 per cent debt cut, a new repayment threshold, and a new way of calculating compulsory repayments. Here is a plain-English guide to…
Sydney petrol prices by suburb in April 2026 reveal a 105-cent gap between the cheapest and most expensive station in the city — meaning where you fill up matters more right now than at any point in years. Unleaded petrol in Sydney currently ranges from 191.5 cents to 296.9 cents per litre, with a city-wide…
Australia’s March 2026 CPI data lands on 29 April — and it may be the single most consequential inflation reading in years. Annual CPI inflation was 3.7 per cent in the 12 months to February 2026, with the largest contributors being Housing (+7.2%), Food and non-alcoholic beverages (+3.1%) and Recreation and culture (+4.1%). That was…
The Geelong refinery fire that broke out overnight on 15 April has hit one of Australia’s only two oil refineries — right in the middle of an already serious fuel crisis. Emergency services were called to Viva Energy’s Corio facility around 11pm after reports of explosions. A gas leak triggered the blast, forcing workers to…
Mortgage repayments in Australia have risen sharply in 2026 — and for most variable-rate borrowers, the third consecutive RBA rate hike is now landing in their bank accounts. The Reserve Bank raised the cash rate by 25 basis points in February, March and again on 5 May 2026, bringing the official rate to 4.35 per…
Industry wages in Australia in 2026 vary by a factor of more than two between the highest and lowest paying sectors, with mining sitting at the top of the ABS Average Weekly Earnings data and accommodation and food services consistently at the bottom. Where you work matters as much as what you do — and…
Australia GDP 2026 ABS data confirms that the economy grew 2.6 percent in the year to December 2025, the strongest annual result since the December quarter of 2022. Released on 4 March 2026, the Australian Bureau of Statistics national accounts report showed quarterly growth of 0.8 percent in seasonally adjusted chain volume terms — beating…