Next week, there’ll be a rise to the age pension.
About 2.7 million people will see the increase from the upcoming round of indexation from 20 September.
Maximum rates for singles will increase by $36.80 a fortnight to $1,237.70.
Couples, combined, will see a rise of $55.60 to $1,866.00 per fortnight.
The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission said this week that airfares will continue to climb as oil prices bounce higher and the war in the Middle East drags on.
In its Domestic Airline Competition in Australia report, it also revealed just how concentrated the market is locally.
Qantas Group dominates with a 65.2 per cent share, Virgin Australia 33.3 per cent and Rex just 1.5 per cent.
“We’ll be watching closely,” ACCC chair Gina Cass-Gotlieb told me on the SBS On the Money podcast.
Cass-Gotlieb said that while airlines may navigate higher jet fuel prices by cutting capacity relief might come in time as Sydney’s second airport comes online.
Well, the reality is the Reserve Bank was already lifting official interest rates earlier this year before many other global central banks, because Australia was experiencing inflationary pressures before the war in the Middle East started.
Last week, the Bank of Japan boosted rates to a 31-year high, while the US Federal Reserve also moved higher for the first time in more than three years.