Liberal Cost of Living Shadow Minister Zed Seselja has made an effort to earn his pay while running for the Senate and asked why the Government spent a whole $61,000 on plastic bag compliance.
To this end he’s waving around an answer to a question on notice (which we note was asked by Assembly newcomer Giulia [...]

Actew’s compliance with the Energy Efficiency (Cost of Living) Act 2012 means you can keep a small wad for yourself

Dr Erin Brady has been wheeled out to take the rap for pay parking increases:
The Environment and Sustainable Development Directorate wishes to advise the community of increases to pay parking from January 2013, Dr Erin Brady, Executive Director of City Planning announced today.
Income generated from parking is used to provide maintenance of parking and fund [...]

According to an article published on news.com.au Canberra is the twelfth most expensive expat city to live ahead of New York City, Shanghai and Zurich. 
The survey claims to take into account cost of living but not health and schooling. Cities like Melbourne, LA and Dubai don’t rate a mention on the list…
Will be interesting [...]

Andrew Barr has announced his plans to “expand the No Interest Loans Scheme (NILS) and help more Canberra households on low-incomes deal with cost of living pressures.”
The 2012-13 ACT Budget provided $740,000 over four years for the expansion of this scheme, which provides no-interest loans to people on low incomes.
We are hosting an information [...]

The 2012 Mercer Worldwide Cost of Living Survey was released today, backing up what a lot of Canberrans probably already suspected.
Our fine city climbed 11 places up the ranking, taking it from 34th to 23rd most expensive in the world, ahead of somewhat larger cities such as London and New York, but still [...]

The Liberals’ Brendan Smyth is taking no joy at all from new CommSec data on the dreaded cost of living:
The latest CommSec economic report confirms that the ACT has the lowest wage growth and the highest increase in consumer prices in the country, showing that Canberra is becoming an even more expensive place to [...]

The Liberals are on a cost of living tear.
First up is Shadow Minister for Cars Alistair Coe bemoaning the rising cost of parking which is largely policy to encourage public transport use, but Alistair’s not a fan.
Zed is also arcing up about electricity prices. It turns out for families of five the electricity price rises [...]

The Liberals’ Brendan Smyth has swooped on new ABS stats like a seagull upon a chip to show we really are highly taxed:
Canberrans pay more in tax than anywhere else in the country, according to Australian Bureau of Statistics data released today. ACT Shadow Treasurer Brendan Smyth said this is a shocking burden placed on [...]

The Liberals’s Zed Seselja and Brendan Smyth are proudly announcing they’ve got the Assembly on board for their Financial Management (Cost of Living) Amendment Bill 2012:
ACT Deputy Opposition Leader Brendan Smyth, who introduced the Bill, said it is disappointing it took legislation for the government to take notice of the cost of living problems they’ve [...]

The Liberals’ Alistair Coe is taking an unusual approach (for a tory) of blaming society for the lawless behaviour of motorists parking illegally.
“With an unreliable and hugely expensive public transport system, many Canberrans are forced to drive their cars, and are then subject to a severe lack of parking which often forces them to park [...]

The Liberals’ Zed Seselja (aka the Working Class Hero) is banging his cost of living drum thanks to the latest ABS stats.
Australian Bureau of Statistics data released yesterday shows Canberra’s cost of living is continuing to rise under ACT Labor. In the past year, the ACT has experienced increases in the price indexes [...]

The Liberals’ Brendan Smyth is using a new report on flat retail sales in the ACT to remind us that Katy Gallagher recommends we cancel Foxtel if times are tough:
“It is clear that Canberra consumers continue to face increasing pressures on their cost of living as a consequence of the decisions of ACT Labor.
“Increases in [...]

Following on from Zed’s cost of living spray this morning the Greens’ Amanda Bresnan is asking what he plans to do about transport costs:
“Today Mr Seselja pointed to ABS statistics showing the high costs to Canberrans of fuel and transport,” said Greens Transport spokesperson, Amanda Bresnan MLA.
“This is absolutely true, and it is a [...]

Liberal Leader Zed Seselja has leaped upon ABS data he says shows Canberra is more expensive to live in than Perth (or any other city in Australia):
“In 2009-10, Canberra couple families with dependent children spent $760 per week on average on essentials like fuel ($58.40), groceries ($316.17), transport ($275.42) and medical care ($110.02),” ACT Opposition [...]

As The Australian reported yesterday the cost of living in Australia is rapidly rising amongst world standards. While Canberra is usualy ommited from these stories, the full list can be found here showing that Canberra is now the 15th most expensive city in the world to live.

The Independent Competition and Regulatory Commission has not yet bestirred itself to update its website, but the ABC informs us they’ve approved a 6.4% rise in the price of electricity for the coming financial year.
Acting senior commissioner Malcolm Gray says the main reason for the rise is the Federal Government’s increased renewable energy [...]

Another contribution from Zed Seselja on the budget.
Apparently in his budget reply speech (which has not been published online, but will eventually turn up in hansard) he “released” a “Cost of Living Study” which has also not been published online.
Anyhoo, here’s what he had to say about it:
“The ACT Labor government talks about cost of [...]