A stark survey shows we are poorer now than when Prime Minister Anthony Albanese first came to power

Hardworking Australians are struggling more than ever. A parliamentary inquiry into the cost of living shows we are worse off now than when Anthony Albanese’s government first came to power.

The coalition-led study found that the cost of essential goods, including rent, housing, food and utilities, had risen since Albania became prime minister, while household incomes had leveled off.

As a result, Australian households have experienced the largest decline in disposable income compared to more than developed countries.

The final report released on Friday made nine recommendations, including a call for the national cabinet to be urgently convened to address “excessive government spending”, with the commission targeting government spending to worsen inflation.

It also called on Mr Albanese and the country’s state and territory leaders to “develop productivity-enhancing reforms for the economy” and urged a “deregulatory agenda” to boost competition between businesses.

A parliamentary inquiry has called on the national cabinet to meet to cut public spending to tackle the cost of living

A cost of living survey chaired by Liberal Senator Jane Hume found Australians are poorer now compared to two and a half years ago

The report blasted the Coalition and Greens-backed policy to give the consumer watchdog powers to divest supermarkets as a ‘last resort’ to combat price gouging and bad behaviour.

It has also urged the government to reinstate the construction watchdog, the Australian Building and Construction Commission, to ease the fallout from the CFMEU scandal.

Both policies have been rejected by the government.

The committee, chaired by Liberal Victorian Senator Jane Hume, has held 21 public hearings, taking into account evidence from the Reserve Bank, Treasury, trade unions, small businesses, housing and industry associations, as well as ordinary Australians.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese has been accused of failing to tackle the cost of living crisis

Although the latest inflation data shows headline inflation has fallen within the Reserve Bank’s target range of 2 to 3 percent for the first time in three years, Senator Hume said many households and businesses were still in “crisis”.

‘Living standards have collapsed and Australians are heading into their third Christmas with less in their pockets. Many will get through this holiday season,” she said.

“As the Cost of Living Commission has confirmed, inflation is every Australian’s worst enemy.

“Unfortunately, the Labor government has left Australians behind.”

Treasurer Jim Chalmers has hit back at the Coalition-led cost of living commission over its findings

A spokesman for Federal Treasurer Jim Chalmers rejected the report’s claims, noting Labor’s $900 million productivity fund to incentivize states and territories to cut red tape to boost productivity, announced this week.

“If the Liberals really cared about the cost of living, they would have voted for our cost of living relief in Parliament, but they didn’t,” they said.

“The coalition has left us with much higher inflation, huge deficits, and in the third year of a three-year term they still have no expensive or credible economic policies.”

The government has said it has limited real spending growth to 1.4 percent, less than half the 30-year average, while the previous coalition government had seen average real spending growth of 4.1 percent and found no savings in the final budget.