Repeat again and again, we are living in a cost of living crisis.
And the government really urgently right now ought to be doing something about it, right now. What’s wrong with you, Albo!!!!
Isn’t it somehow serendipitous that just as the government announces an enquiry into the pricing policies of the major supermarkets, a loud noise erupts over the un-Australian decision by Woolworths not to sell Chinese made Australia Day merchandise because demand for those products has fallen away?
Suddenly action the government is taking to address the cost of living crisis is drowned out by a concocted scandal.
Add a bit of noise that the price of electricity is way too high, that nothing is being done to get prices down to the levels promised during the last election campaign to completely deny the actions taken by both Federal and State governments to address those costs through rebates and other measures with the media happily headlining the dog whistle, seemingly ignoring what actions have been taken to address that aspect of the (repeat loudly) the COST OF LIVING CRISIS.
Yes, cost of living is a problem for many today, but I am reminded of the biblical statement that the poor will always be with us, and that for many of those suffering in poverty of one kind or another, government action is not going to solve the problem. For them, a cost of living crisis is normal day to day life.
In New Year’s Eve a group of friends and I met at a beach-side picnic spot to watch the sun sink into the ocean and partake of snacks and drinks to see the New Year in. Nearby in the carpark was a Land Cruiser with a roof top camper and a young couple sitting by the vehicle having their evening meal. I visit that site often and have noticed that vehicle there over the past few months, so I went down to invite them to join us to see the New Year in, but the offer was graciously declined. In conversation, the young man said they were homeless and had been living in the car for several months. They were ever aware of the rangers who come by and ask them to move on, but to where? So they say they are there to get an early morning surf in… a couple of boards are beside the vehicle. What was most evident in the brief conversation was that these people were not in a good place and they did not really want to spend time with a bunch of happy old people to see in the New Year. I guess you could call it depression of sorts.
On this morning’s beach walk I met up with James, a man close to my age, and like me, a renter, not a home owner, but also like me admitting that he actually has more than he needs. He volunteers with the Salvos, picking up produce from local supermarkets to distribute to needy families. He usually has some little somethings for kids who happen to come to his car as he is making deliveries, chewing gum, which is received with a broad smile. The mothers receiving the bags of food are most appreciative that small action by James, his partner and the other volunteers solve on a daily basis the cost of living crisis experienced by those most in need.
As James is telling me this, I reflect on the couple of occasions I have witnessed people trying to buy things and falling short… the young lady in a car parts store buying a $40 item to repair her car so she could get to work, but the payment on the credit card failed. Mine worked fine and the young lady’s problem was solved. Or the time at Aldi when a mother is going through the shopping she had done and looking at what was the least necessary items because she could not afford the basketful she needed. Again, small change, less than $100 for me, but it solved her cost of living crisis. Or on the odd occasion I actually have cash that it can help a person who is destitute. When we really think about it, most of us are doing OK. I am a pensioner, but have more than I need; it costs so little to do a good deed which means so much to those who are genuinely struggling. And by taking personal action we tend not to repeat loudly that there is a cost of living crisis.
I tire of those who repeat that line time and again, cost of living crisis, cost of living crisis from their well paid jobs in the media, if on the TV dressed fashionably, expensively. or the politician who as a backbencher takes home of $250,000 a year, frontbenchers a whole heap more, and that is without considering the electorate allowances and travel perks they enjoy. The cost of living crisis for them is just another term to hit the government with while they sit on their hands dreaming up the next populist slogan to deflect from good things the government may do.
And yes, I do concede that costs have risen. My own rent has gone up considerably, so yes, I understand that it has become more expensive for me to live but can still afford to go on my trips to places I want to visit, still active and well enough to look at Bluff Knoll and decide that it needs me to sit at the top again as I make may way to Bremer Bay to see the pod of orcas that visit near there. I can still plan a trip to drive around Tasmania; a bucket list dream. So, despite the cost of living crisis, I can live a life of comfort and adventure.
I live a life of gratitude, and as such when I see a need I am privileged enough to be able to help at a personal level. I expect that those in power do the same, but at a level which they have signed up for, not to be a loud destructive voice in opposition but to scrutinise the actions of government and make amendments and suggestions to improve what is being done instead of the political point scoring through populist sloganeering.
And while we are on rent and rent increases, how many politicians have rental properties and are enjoying the increased return through the rent increases which have exploded in the past year? There appears to be no cost of living crisis for those… and they are on both sides of the aisle.
Empty slogans from people who have more than they need, from people who live in a comfort that would be the envy of most loudly repeating cost of living crisis as their bank accounts and superannuation accounts grow day by day. To refresh memories, when the super contribution was 9.5%, federal politicians and their staff were being paid 15.4% and the vote to increase the rate for the ordinary punter, the yous and mes of the world, there was a reluctance to vote for the increase.
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