Communities reeling from cost of living pressures look for Budget relief

ACM reporters Marlene Even and Layton Holley spoke with Australians at the coalface of a national cost-of-living emergency.

Daniel and Mel Kennedy, a married couple from Albury, said the housing crisis and cost-of-living pressures were the main issues they'd like to see tackled in the budget.

"Housing, for me, is first and foremost," Mrs Kennedy said.

"Even though we pay a mortgage, the fact that people are basically living in tents because there is nowhere to live is ridiculous.

"There needs to be a hard cut put on rental prices."

"And also, just being able to buy necessities from the supermarket should be cheaper - you shouldn't have to be forking out an entire weeks' wage just to be able to get food," Mrs Kennedy said.

Mr Kennedy said the government must monitor the supermarkets and banks as he believed they were "jacking up" prices unnecessarily.

"They are using inflation as an excuse to boost their prices which only lines their own pockets more," he said.

"That's my hot take on the subject."

Tony Trevaskis, an Albury local who works for the Remote Vocational Training Scheme (RVTS), said he'd like to see the government strike a balance between easing the cost-of-living crisis and fighting inflation.

"There is obviously large inflation, so being able to take control of inflation and the increased cost-of-living pressures that people are facing," he said.

"I want to see a balanced budget that doesn't go too far one way or the other.

"We don't want to quash increases in business and those sorts of things but we also don't want to stifle households so they can't (live) day-to-day either."

Mr Trevaskis said that as a home owner he had seen significant increases in interest rates.

"But within business as well, our operating costs have increased and to be able to maintain levels of operation which we've experienced before, we now have to look at tightening up and use cost saving measures to keep things in budget," he said.

"So it's effecting me at home personally and also within employment and what decisions you make within there to keep everything profitable and operating as it should be."

Wodonga's Ronda McLennan said homelessness must be addressed in the budget.

"Lack of housing, homelessness and unemployment - there's too many people out there living rough and they all tie in together," she said.

"If you don't have a job and you can't afford the rent anymore you get kicked out of your house because of greedy developers or real estate agents.

"And if you do have money coming in, the rents go up and you get kicked out of your flat or house.

"Therefore, people are having to live rough; these are the new people who are living rough, besides the ones who've always lived rough," Mrs McLennan said.

Amy Green, a dancer from Albury in NSW, said she'd love to see more funding for the arts.

"I trained as a dancer so that has always been something that I sort of look for," she said.

"Just looking at the culture of our community, it's such an important part, the arts impact everyone of us in some way whether you read a book or watch TV.

"So it doesn't have to be a large amount, but just having some support for the arts."

Mrs Green said she'd also like to see more defence spending as her husband was in the army.

"I know how important the Defence Force is for the safety of our nation but also just in terms of giving back to our community," she said.

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Marella Paradisis said she was feeling the impact of rising costs.

"Electricity, housing, shopping for groceries, everything in today's society," Mrs Paradisis said.

The 28-year-old mother and childcare worker said the government should include funding for childcare in the budget.

"Put the pay up for hospitality staff, childcare workers and nursing. They do all the hours and they get nothing," she said.

Mrs Paradisis said nurses and child care workers' income was too low.

"I'm a child care educator...so it is tough, and you work certain hours and you get nothing out of it because all your money just goes on on food, and it goes on kids and childcare support. Yeah, it's expensive, It's $130 dollars a day for a baby."

John Vincent from Wollongong in NSW said the rising cost of groceries had impacted his weekly budget.

"The price of food. I know when I talk to my wife every time she goes shopping, she comes back and tells me how much everything costs, [the] extra costs, and some things you can't get," Mr Vincent said.

He said the government should focus on vulnerable people.

"I think [the government has] enough pressure on them with the debt we are in. All the problems our economy has got -the housing. I think there's a lot worse off than me," he said.

He referred to housing as a big budget issue especially for skilled workers arriving in Australia and in regional areas.

"They want to bring health workers here, they want to bring a whole range of people here to Australia but where are they going to live? We can't house what we've got here now.

"I think public housing is a critical thing that they need to be looking at."

Kelly Kreillis from Corrimal, in the northern suburbs of Wollongong, said most people were paying close attention to daily costs and managing their household budget.

"You're mindful of what you spend on your groceries, you're mindful of how much it costs to put petrol in your car," Ms Kreilis said.

"I'm very mindful of how much extra interest and extra payments I'm paying on my mortgage. So then in return you're not inclined to be spending like you would in case it gets worse.

"I say to my son 'we're not going out for dinner', in case things get worse. It's at the top of everyone's mind."

Ms Kreilis said easing cost-of-living pressure should be a priority.

"I guess help with cost of living would be nice for the people who can't afford to pay their electricity bills, can't afford to put food on the table really," Ms Kreilis said.

Kim McCall from West Wollongong in NSW is hoping the government will act on housing prices.

"I think also if there's a way [it needs to] cap housing prices because they're escalating ridiculously high for our area," she said.

While Mrs McCall has paid off her home loan, she said she was worried that her children would not be able to buy a home in the Illawarra region.

"I've got children and I don't think that they can live in this area," she said.

"In this area our wages don't match the housing costs so Sydney people are moving down here, but they have the wages in Sydney but Wollongong doesn't have the wages to keep up with our rising cost of housing."

"The electricity bills have gone up and the gas has gone up ridiculously...land rates which have skyrocketed, it all adds up," Mrs McCall said.