If 2023 marked the likely tail end of the fastest rise in interest rates in three decades, this year will reveal just how hard the economy’s landing will be. To be sure, households trying to get by on jobseeker at $54 a day or $43 for the youth allowance could argue the economy has not been airborne for them for years.
“People on low incomes have been pushed to the absolute brink, forced to make impossible choices between feeding themselves, paying their rent or turning the lights on,” says Edwina MacDonald, the acting chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Service.
