Publications

WACOSS Library

Publications

2023 Cost of Living Report

18 December 2023

Reports from frontline community sector organisations make it very clear that people in Western Australia are feeling the pressure of wage inequity and increasing costs. Supermarket chains are posting record profits, at the same time that many people are struggling to cover the cost of groceries. Likewise, banks see their profits balloon, while households fall further behind. Interest rates keep on rising and rental prices continue to skyrocket, making it harder for people to keep a roof over their heads.

Western Australian community services have reported that inadequate access to safe and secure housing is the face of this cost-of-living crisis, with large numbers of clients in private rental arrears due to significant rent increases. One service reported to WACOSS that a client had their rent increase by $200 per week. Unable to cover increasing rental costs, households are reaching out for support, with demand for emergency relief funds to cover arrears rapidly growing.

The community should be able to have confidence that the rental market will provide liveable, affordable, and stable housing where people can happily make their home. Instead, we have a rental system in crisis. When considering the current rental market, it is important to recognise that this crisis is a crisis for renters. For landlords, our current rental system is a dream state, where they have free rein to hike rents as much as they please, with little consequence due to the supply-demand imbalance and a lack of regulation around those increases.

The support provided to households by the State Government to date, such as electricity credits, has been unable to keep up with the scale of rental increases that burden tenants. While the WA Government’s new rent relief scheme – due to commence in January 2024 – will support tenants facing immediate eviction due to rental arrears, it will not address the issue of price rises. To do that, direct state intervention is needed. It requires the State Government to:

  • reform and rebalance the rental system to better protect the rights of tenants.
  • stabilise rental increases, and place a cap on rents that limit increases to no more than the Consumer Price Index.
  • commit to significant and sustained investment to increase the stock of public and community housing.

The Federal Government has a key role to play too. The recent industrial relations reforms will be critical in improving the position of low-paid workers, but more needs to be done. Now is not the time to go through with the Stage 3 tax cuts. Rather, that $320 billion over 10 years could be used to increase JobSeeker and other income support payments. Further, the Federal Government should take action to address potential price-gouging by supermarkets in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis.

This year’s Cost of Living Report outlines the impact of increasing costs on families and communities and offers a call to action – asking communities and government to support change for the common good and stand strong against opposition rooted in self-interest. Responding to this call is the only way we can create a Western Australia where all families, communities and individuals can thrive.

Read the WACOSS 2023 Cost of Living Report

Read the WACOSS 2023 Cost of Living Snapshot

Authored by: Graham Hansen, Senior Policy Officer and Emily Hull, Senior Policy and Project Officer, WACOSS.

Publications

2023 Cost of Living Snapshot

18 December 2023

Read the full report: WACOSS 2023 Cost of Living

Read the Snapshot: WACOSS 2023 Cost of Living Snapshot

Publications

Looking through an Aboriginal Lens: Results of the Ngalang Moort Wangkiny Project (100 Families Western Australia) – Summary Report

30 November 2023

The Summary Report of Looking through an Aboriginal Lens: Results of the Ngalang Moort Wangkiny Project (100 Families Western Australia) is a short overview of the full report, produced by Centre for Social Impact, UWA.

Read the Summary

Read the full Report

Publications

Looking through an Aboriginal Lens: Results of the Ngalang Moort Wangkiny Project (100 Families Western Australia) – Full Report

30 November 2023

Looking through an Aboriginal Lens: Results of the Ngalang Moort Wangkiny Project (100 Families Western Australia), was prepared by the Centre for Social Impact, UWA.

Inspired by the Auckland City Mission’s Family 100 project, the 100 Families WA project is a large scale multi-year study that aims to deeply understand the experience of entrenched disadvantage (or hardship) in Perth, Western Australia. The project intends to not only promote kadadjiny (knowledge), goolyara (inclusion), kadjininy (understanding), and koortkadak (empathy), but to translate research in ways that support effective policy change and positive transformation of everyday life. Situated within the broader 100 Families WA project is the Ngalang
Moort Wangkiny (Our People Yarning) project, which aims to amplify the Aboriginal voices from 100 Families participants in a culturally secure way. The  Aboriginal leadership of Ngalang Moort Wangkiny shows that we are not simply objects of study but active participants, leaders, and scholars working together to shed light on our strengths, resilience, and the challenges we face. This report concerns the Ngalang Moort project specifically, although comprehensive 100 Families reports and shorter bulletins are available for greater detail on the broader study context and findings.

Read the full Report

Read the Summary

PublicationsSubmissions

A Brighter Future – Stronger communities across a vast state: State Budget Submission 2024-2025

27 October 2023

Foreword

Many Western Australian households are facing hard times, unsure how they will see their way through the next year or two. They are worried about being able to provide for their loved-ones most basic needs and scared that no matter how hard they work and how carefully they scrimp and save, they may fall behind their financial commitments and risk losing everything.

(more…)

PublicationsSubmissions

State Budget Submission Summary 2024-2025

27 October 2023

Our State Budget Submission analysis and recommendations address gaps in services, identify supports that need to be bolstered, and charts the systemic changes required for a strong and fair Western Australia.  (more…)

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