New tax cut leads cost-of-living measures in Labor’s budget

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Reporter Steph Ferrier has been talking to members of the community of Sunshine in Melbourne's west about the budget measures.

Transcript

00:00Let me give you an economic outlook picture illustrated in fruit and veg here, because

00:08we're seeing with customers more of this and fewer of these.

00:12But to explain exactly what is happening and how people are feeling about their own budgets,

00:17I'm joined by Viren Barrow, who is the owner of Vicfield's Fresh Fruit and Veg here, which

00:23is about 12km west of the CBD, isn't it, Viren?

00:27This is a bit of a traditional sort of working class area.

00:31What are some of the customers saying to you about how they're feeling?

00:33It's main thing important for them is filling their stomach, because they're struggling

00:37to meet the two ends.

00:39It's more they work, less they get it in the hand, kind of that.

00:43That's main important thing.

00:44So for them, veggies and everything, they're putting everything, the fruits and everything

00:49on the side, taking more veggies and that.

00:52So if we're talking about that just here, you're talking about like sort of some of

00:55the filling veggies, aren't you, that they're really going for?

00:59Cauliflower, broccoli, kind of the potatoes, they're going more, they're going less for

01:02the watermelons, strawberries, they're cutting down on those things.

01:06So most important for them is to fill the stomach.

01:09And what about the size of their shop?

01:12Size of the shop, it's, they're cutting down on the shopping list.

01:17Before they were buying one kilo, now they're going for 800 grams.

01:20They're buying two pieces of these, they're going for one piece of that.

01:23So that's important thing for them.

01:25So trying to stretch it, now, I came to you, I think about three years ago, after the federal

01:30budget then, and that was at a time when we saw inflation a lot higher, it thankfully

01:35has come down.

01:36So has there been a big change that you've seen?

01:40Big change hasn't come.

01:41The main reason is that because they need to cut down on some sort of housing, because

01:46that's the main spender for everybody.

01:48They need to cut down on fuel prices and everything, then it will affect the normal person.

01:54Still the housing, that's the real difficulty.

01:57That's the most important thing, because your and my incomes most, biggest part is goes

02:01towards your housing, start on that.

02:04That's the only thing.

02:05Yeah, okay.

02:06And just in terms of business conditions, for you, if your customers are spending less,

02:10how's all of this impacting on you as a business owner?

02:13It's a viscous circle.

02:14So they spend less, we get less, we spend less, and it goes less to the farmers, less

02:21in the society, less towards the circle of the finance.

02:24Are you seeing more people coming in here though, because they're trying to find that

02:28bargain from some of the bigger supermarkets?

02:31Supermarkets are nearly twice or three times more costlier than us.

02:35And we are more cheaper as well as, more fresher as well as, we buy on a daily basis, so they're

02:41coming more towards us because they're looking for the cheaper bargains and everything.

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