GRIM

Economic forecasting says grapes and shredded cheese will continue to be ‘luxury goods’ until at least 2030

New year, same cost-of-living crisis. And let’s be real, you’re not a true Sydneysider unless you’ve had to toss up between purchasing a bunch of grapes or paying your rent for that week.

And alas, I come bearing not-so-great news. Because while the whole ‘cozzie livs’ talk may feel like it’s getting old, new economic forecasting suggests that it’ll continue to be the main topic of dinner table conversations for at least the next five years.

What was the announcement?

This week, Shadow Treasurer for NSW, Angus Taylor, broke the memo to us all. He was super optimistic and detail oriented about it, too, describing the current economic climate simply as “grim”. And while we’re sure there’s probably just a sprinkle of an anti-Liberal party voting agenda in there, the numbers don’t lie.

“Under the Albanese Labor government hardworking Australians are enduring the steepest decline in living standards on record…Not only is this completely unprecedented in our history, it’s also unparalleled anywhere else in the world,” he stated.

After a $26.9 billion deficit announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers in his mid-fiscal year budget update in late December, it’s also clear that this problem isn’t going anywhere, anytime soon. And yes, that means we might as well completely forget about grapes, cheese, olive oil or fresh vegetables for the time being. After all, they are luxury items nowadays, specially reserved for Christmas and birthdays.

How the PM responded…

As expected, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese quickly flocked to the defence of this administration’s policies and effectiveness. In a Sunrise interview yesterday with Michael Usher, he assured us that the cost-of-living would have been far worse had the Liberal party been in power these past few years. He also noted that over this period, every single cost-of-living policy measure implemented had been opposed by Opposition Leader, Peter Dutton.

The reality? It appears the pre-election tit for tat has already commenced. And while numbers don’t lie, they also don’t necessarily reveal the whole picture. All we can say is that at least there’s the silver lining of still being able to use the cozzie livs excuse when your nan asks why you still don’t have your shit together.