It is becoming increasingly expensive to live in Western Australia - $61 per week more expensive. A new report, “The Boom is Busted for 400,000 of Us,” released in August by the WA Council of Social Service (WACOSS) showed the cost of basic living expenses such as food, housing, fuel and health care had risen almost twice as fast as the average wage in the year to June.
 
The average family costs have surged by 9.8 per cent to $684 a week, in contrast to the average weekly income, which has increased 5.7 per cent to $626. The average rental cost for a three bedroom home in Perth jumped 24.1 per cent to $361 a week and weekly fuel costs for that city rose 20.1 per cent to $62.80 a week.
 
In regional areas, petrol had risen by 18.5 per cent to $136.72 per week. Basic foodstuffs have fared no better. There are dramatic price increases to the average food basket, with 500g of butter in Perth costing $4.67, an almost 50 percent raise. Milk, rice and potato prices also skyrocketed.
 
WACOSS social policy director Irina Cattalini said that things would get worse. “The housing, particularly rental market, pressures haven't eased,” she said. “Fuel might have eased slightly but it's still continuing to rise, and other food and basic essentials are continuing to rise as well, so there's still no end in sight and we expect (the cost of living) to continue to rise again for the next 12 months.”
This is WACOSS' second annual paper, drawn from data sources such as the Real Estate Institute of WA and the Australian Bureau of Statistics consumer price index.
 
Ms Cattalini called for the Government to develop its own report after the State election. She said “For 20 per cent of the population it's dire but for the rest of the middle income earners it's really tough, so you do have to ask who is this boom helping and what is the Government investing back in to balance some of those detriments?”