Power bills have gone up 20 per cent, road tolls are everywhere and wages are effectively going backwards, says local MP Greg Warren.
He was responding to the latest Australian Bureau of Statistics figures showing that in the 12 months to the December 2017 quarter wages grew by just 2 per cent.
Mr Warren and the Labor opposition are calling on Premier Gladys Berejiklian to take action to relieve cost of living pressures on ordinary families across NSW.
Over the past year wage growth has barely kept up with the rate of inflation; leaving families struggling to pay tolls, taxes and transport fares.
Labor says that when it left office in 2011, wages growth was at 3.9 per cent.
NSW is also the highest taxing state – for the first time in a decade.
Under the Berejiklian-Barilaro Government, there are 520,000 households that are over-indebted in NSW with average mortgage repayments in NSW more than $601 per week – the highest in Australia.
[social_quote duplicate=”no” align=”default”]“Under this government the little man always comes last,” says Mr Warren.[/social_quote]
Mr Warren was backed by the state opposition’s treasury spokesman Ryan Park.
“Families are going backwards under Gladys Berejiklian,’’ he said.
“It’s a sad fact of life that under this government many families will struggle to pay the bills, the mortgage and get ahead,’’ Mr Park said.
“The only thing that the government has done to date is eliminate stamp duty for people buying a property valued under $650,000.
“It’s too little too late for most families who have seen the government sit on its hands for six years while raking in the stamp duty from the Sydney property boom.’’
