Last month, I asked a group of my newsletter subscribers how the cost-of-living crisis was impacting them and more than 115 people responded. (You can add your voice to the survey here.)
Groceries, energy, housing, insurance and healthcare came up constantly — and all of these big increases in cost-of-living are being driven by concentrated corporate markets extracting maximum profit from basic human survival
The cost-of-living crisis in Australia is not some natural disaster, bad luck, or the result of you overspending your budget on frozen yoghurt treats. overspending. It is a systematic, upward transfer of wealth driven by unrestrained corporate power and deliberate price gouging.
Energy and heating were cited more than almost any other cost — 36% of people who responded.
One person wrote: “Gas costs. Putting the heater on during this time of the year makes me really scared.” Another noted the absurdity of the market setup: “Despite having solar panels I only get paid 2 cents per kWh.“
In a nation rich in natural resources and unlimited solar and wind energy, privatisation has transformed electricity and gas from public goods into speculative profit centres for foreign multinational corporations. The result is that households are terrified to turn on winter heating.
Food costs remain a constant source of pressure and the supermarket duopoly were cited by 33% of respondents.
“Food and petrol are the killers. I’ve stopped buying any treats for myself… and buy cheap frozen vegetables to replace fresh ones.“
Australia’s grocery duopoly uses market concentration and misleading advertising to raise prices above cost growth, forcing working families to cut back on food while the “Colesworths” corporate profits exceeded $2.6 billion in 2025.
Commuting to work, paying road tolls, and purchasing fuel are unavoidable costs for most everyday people, yet fuel prices and transport fees extract a heavy toll on weekly. For 28% of respondents, transport and fuel hit hard.
One worker noted: “I find myself staying home more rather than driving anywhere.“
The costs like tolls-roads is another example of corporate profiteering — the multinational corporation Transurban controls many of the toll-roads in Australia and made over $300 million in profits in Australia alone in the first half of 2026, and immediately paid out vast dividends to its American owners.
Insurance costs were mentioned by 23% of respondents, and several cited premiums that increased 20% or more in a single year even though they had made no claims.
A respondent wrote: “Running a car now is very expensive … insurance. Even for small car. It’s blatant robbery.” Another wrote that “insurance premiums” and “private health insurance” were big drains.
Insurance covers every part of our lives — and in many cases we are forced by law to get insurance like car insurance, or have tax incentives that penalise people who don’t buy private health insurance. Private insurers operate like a cartel, shifting climate and economic risk entirely onto households and small operators.
Housing costs, including skyrocketing rents and mortgage repayments, were mentioned by 20% of respondents.
Renters on fixed or low incomes reported being trapped by skyrocketing prices, with one disability pensioner stating: “Rent is the biggest… We cannot afford to stay or leave.“
Treating homes as speculative financial assets rather than essential shelter leaves renters and mortgage-holders trapped without affordable options. This is the direct result of state policies and the power of the commercial banks.
The overall economic data supports what readers of this blog and newsletter have reported they are experiencing. Research shows corporate profits were responsible for more than half of post-pandemic inflation. Specifically, corporations price-gouged $100 billion in excess corporate profits.
It is also important to remember that most of the large corporations that run our supermarkets, banks and insurance, toll roads, and gas and electricity companies are majority owned by foreign investors. They send their profits overseas — mainly to the USA and UK — draining our wealth permanently.
The Reserve Bank’s response to inflation — of repeated interest rate increases — punishes workers, mortgage holders and renters for a problem caused by corporate profiteering. Suppressing worker wages and increasing mortgage payments does nothing to curb oligopoly price gouging. However, increasing interest rates does help protect corporate profits.
This small survey highlights the real impact on real people of the critical failures in excessive corporate power. People wrote about severe out-of-pocket medical fees, having pensions cancelled, of being forced to sleep in cars.
Severe poverty and inequality is a deliberate policy choice in Australia — which is one of the world’s richest countries.
When we have companies that are too powerful, it means our economy no longer operates on supply-and-demand Instead, the corporations can extract profits from people who are effectively captive — the vast majority of Australians have no option to opt out of food, fuel, or shelter.
While some politicians and media commentators want you to blame immigrants for the problems we face, that simply won’t stop the out-of-control profiteering by multinational corporations.
For the same reason, blaming “Net Zero” for energy prices going up ignores the fact that even if all our energy came from coal and gas, just a few foreign-owned corporations own the power stations and they will still price-gouge you.
Over 80% of survey respondents expressed interest in joining a collective campaign to fight these cost-of-living impacts.
This shows that everyday people — people just like you reading this — recognise that individuals can’t budget better to solve the structural problem of extremely powerful corporations. That’s why we need to build institutions — unions, cooperatives and mutual aid groups.
Read more: Fighting the cost-of-living crisis
Thank you to everyone who shared their stories.