With Australian government at all levels looking to cost increases to the consumer as a way to off-set increasing demand for essential services, this scenario out of Britain does not reassure.
Nothing I have heard from our own politicians has truly come to grips with how increasing costs for water, electricity, gas and petrol will affect low-income families over the long-term or explained how limited and periodic government handouts to compensate for increases will actually avoid this type of Third World poverty trap.
According to BBC News last Saturday.
The number of people in "water poverty" will rise, says the water consumer watchdog for England and Wales.
The Consumer Council for Water uses the term for people whose water bills cost more than 3% of their income after tax.
It estimates a third of people living in the South West will fit this criteria by 2010.
No comments:
Post a Comment