I'm unsure what's written at twitter, but I would gather just a regurgitation of something like [1] from a few days ago. Tw tter opted to run an approved browser only scheme a little while ago, so it was added to my deny list.
I gather it's just the continued angst over the last few years eg [2] that living costs in Australia have risen more steeply than in other countries.
The actual answers why some costs have gone up are pretty simple but not very palatable to some folks here. It could be summarised as; the average Aussie is being fleeced by the big supermarket and fuel conglomerates, and to a much lesser degree rent and mortgage (re)payments have moved upwards as the big banks squeeze a bit harder to increase their ridiculous profit margins.
There is little point increasing wages to match, in a short time, the big end of town readjusts plus whatever else they can squeeze out ... it's a merry-go-round that's best avoided, but looks like a great job running it for some.
The supermarkets here use, amongst other reasons, fuel price increases, as a means to justify upping prices often multiples of the actual cost they incurred. Note, they are reluctant at times to ensure farmers that supply them are paid enough to even cover the crops' input costs.
Fuel pricing reasons could be thought of as complicated if one doesn't accept that big fuel is looking to take as much from the average consumer they can conceivably get away with ... every little reason the price rockets upwards and then glacially downwards after some event has passed. Fuel here is taxed at the bowser, for which much of the industry within Australia, such as agriculture does not pay (those that are a business are reimbursed this tax component,) - the main pressure as such to keep fuel prices down is by way of [what] the average public will pay, remove the tax and big fuel immediately feels it's ok to price for what they think they can get away with.
Back four years ago or so, the difference for farmers on the hike of crude oil prices at the time and the govt helping out fat cat fuel companies by removing some of the tax, meant fuel ... diesel by which much of the food is cultivated with, effectively nearly doubled as a cost to the farmer. This had a huge impact on farming and slowly food retail prices have reflected that, with additional profiteering of course. It is the main burden of cost of living to the average punter here I saw increase and remains so to the present moment.
Present times the base fuel prices are so high, that the tax component is far less significant ... it's simply so high some farmers who've carefully looked at their budget have stopped some activities and let some of their work force go. I guess in months to come we will see that play out as well.
More people though are waking up to the idea the fuel companies are not being entirely honest even if their PR is doing a really good job - one should not have ever had to argue that oil tankers take longer than a couple of days to get from the Middle East to Australia.
I'm unsure what's written at twitter, but I would gather just a regurgitation of something like [1] from a few days ago. Tw tter opted to run an approved browser only scheme a little while ago, so it was added to my deny list.
I gather it's just the continued angst over the last few years eg [2] that living costs in Australia have risen more steeply than in other countries.
The actual answers why some costs have gone up are pretty simple but not very palatable to some folks here. It could be summarised as; the average Aussie is being fleeced by the big supermarket and fuel conglomerates, and to a much lesser degree rent and mortgage (re)payments have moved upwards as the big banks squeeze a bit harder to increase their ridiculous profit margins.
There is little point increasing wages to match, in a short time, the big end of town readjusts plus whatever else they can squeeze out ... it's a merry-go-round that's best avoided, but looks like a great job running it for some.
The supermarkets here use, amongst other reasons, fuel price increases, as a means to justify upping prices often multiples of the actual cost they incurred. Note, they are reluctant at times to ensure farmers that supply them are paid enough to even cover the crops' input costs.
Fuel pricing reasons could be thought of as complicated if one doesn't accept that big fuel is looking to take as much from the average consumer they can conceivably get away with ... every little reason the price rockets upwards and then glacially downwards after some event has passed. Fuel here is taxed at the bowser, for which much of the industry within Australia, such as agriculture does not pay (those that are a business are reimbursed this tax component,) - the main pressure as such to keep fuel prices down is by way of [what] the average public will pay, remove the tax and big fuel immediately feels it's ok to price for what they think they can get away with.
Back four years ago or so, the difference for farmers on the hike of crude oil prices at the time and the govt helping out fat cat fuel companies by removing some of the tax, meant fuel ... diesel by which much of the food is cultivated with, effectively nearly doubled as a cost to the farmer. This had a huge impact on farming and slowly food retail prices have reflected that, with additional profiteering of course. It is the main burden of cost of living to the average punter here I saw increase and remains so to the present moment.
Present times the base fuel prices are so high, that the tax component is far less significant ... it's simply so high some farmers who've carefully looked at their budget have stopped some activities and let some of their work force go. I guess in months to come we will see that play out as well.
More people though are waking up to the idea the fuel companies are not being entirely honest even if their PR is doing a really good job - one should not have ever had to argue that oil tankers take longer than a couple of days to get from the Middle East to Australia.
[1] https://www.thetimes.com.au/world/32541-why-real-wages-in-au... [July 10, 2026]
[2] https://www.macrobusiness.com.au/2025/02/proof-australian-wo... [Feb 2025]
Edit: [what]
Looks like about 7% in five years. I'm not sure I'd call that "collapsing". I'm sure it's no fun if it happens to you, though...