Quote:
Originally Posted by FatesWarning
I live in Australia, its a great place, But the cost of living has got out of hand, especially, food, petrol, utilities, at least beer is still relatively inexpensive.
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Well, the mining tax would have helped.
The problem that Australia is facing is somewhat like Norway -- huge wealth from extractive industries (oil in Norway, coal and ore in Oz, mostly) distorts everything else.
You can see the impact of the mining wealth on overall price levels in a comparison of cost of living between NZ and Oz. NZ is much cheaper, and its still a very productive economy, but there's no river of money from one commodity warping everything else.
Natural resources wealth really is a "mixed blessing" -- because it kills competitiveness in every other sector.
The mining tax would have addressed that somewhat, but Rinehart and her cronies managed to sink it . . . too bad.