UnionsWA has responded to the release today by the Australian Bureau of Statistics of its Consumer Price Index (CPI) data for Australia, including capital cities. 

Owen Whittle, Secretary, UnionsWA, said:

“Perth continues to lead the nation with the worst cost of living increases over the past year.

“The ABS has measured the Perth CPI increase over the past year at 7.4%, compared with all other capital cities at 6.1%.

“It is worth noting that the WA Government electricity rebate for households is likely to have helped with some temporary relief in this quarter with the Perth CPI rising by 1.7% compared with the all-city CPI in the June quarter of 1.8% over these past three months.

“That kind of relief is welcome but clearly more needs to be done.

“The Albanese Government gets it, but the West Australian Government is increasingly out of touch on wages.

“The WA Government is the largest employer in WA and the only employer that can dictate to its entire workforce, without bargaining, what pay rises will be provided.

“The WA Government has a huge surplus built in part off the back of the real pay cuts to those in our public sector workforce whose pay have been going backwards over the past five years.

”Cuts to public sector pay mean cuts to public services as our schools, hospitals, police and other services struggle to fill vacancies and retain skilled staff.”

Further information

The ABS CPI release for the June Quarter 2022 can are available online here.