The cost of living crisis is a daily reality for families

06th Oct 2026

For families across the Northern Tablelands, the cost of living crisis has become a daily reality.
It hits every time we fill up the car, buy groceries, pay the mortgage, renew an insurance policy or sit at the kitchen table trying to work out how the bills will be paid this month.
The pressure has only intensified as interest rates have climbed to their highest level in 15 years. For many families, every rate increase means another difficult decision about what can be cut back and what must be paid.
Regional communities are carrying a heavier burden than most because we do not have the same choices available in metropolitan areas.
People across the Northern Tablelands can drive hundreds of kilometres each week for work, attending medical appointments, running a farm, operating a small business or simply accessing essential services. When fuel prices rise, there is no metro, light rail or ferry waiting as an alternative.
What makes it even harder to swallow is the amount of tax built into every visit to the bowser.
Every litre of unleaded petrol attracts fuel excise before GST is added on top. For a family filling a typical 70-litre tank, around $35 of the cost can be fuel excise alone.
The impact does not stop there.
Every truck delivering groceries, every tractor in a paddock and every piece of machinery on a worksite runs on fuel.
When transport costs rise, so does the cost of everything else. We are seeing that every week at the checkout.
Grocery staples all cost more than they did a year ago, yet very little of those increases are finding their way back to the farmers producing them.
Somewhere between the farm gate and the checkout, the consumer is paying more while the producer is not earning more.
Insurance is another example. Home, farm and vehicle insurance premiums continue to soar.
What many people do not realise is just how much of their insurance bill is made up of taxes and government charges. In New South Wales, we pay insurance duty, GST and, in many cases, the Emergency Services Levy on premiums.
Consider a family paying around $2,000 a year to insure their home.
By the time taxes and levies are added, as much as $600 of that bill can be government charges rather than insurance cover itself.
Then there is alcohol. Australians pay some of the highest alcohol taxes in the world, with excise automatically increasing over time.
Those increases flow through to consumers and place additional pressure on the pubs and clubs that are often the social heart of our regional communities.
Governments cannot control every international event or economic shock, but they can stop making life more expensive.
Firstly, both State and Federal need to get their spending under control.
The Federal Government should provide targeted fuel excise relief for regional motorists, review alcohol and tobacco excise arrangements, pursue income tax reform to encourage growth, take stronger action to increase competition in the supermarket sector and invest in Australia’s fuel security and refining capacity.
The NSW Government should urgently review the taxes and levies applied to insurance premiums, revisit payroll tax settings, accelerate housing supply, cut the red and green tape that drives up construction costs, and invest in safer and better regional roads.
Across the Northern Tablelands, more people are asking the same question: if working hard is no longer enough to get ahead, when will the current governments finally start giving regional families a fair go?
Brendan Moylan MP

Going strong for 100 years

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The cost of living crisis is a daily reality for families

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