The Great Australian Housing Rip Off

To say that Australia is an expensive place to live is an understatement. We already know housing costs in this country are a disgrace. And we.
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The Australian-owned internet provider TPG is making a huge push to take on the massive players of the industry. The margins Telstra collected on its mobile business were around 40 per cent in the first half of this financial year, and they used to be even higher. But the telco giant is already seeing those numbers fall. When they announced their most recent half-year result, the Telstra CEO blamed competition for shrinking margins. We're putting more data, more value, more entertainment, more services into our plans.

To be totally fair, while margins may be generous, according to data from the International Telecommunications Union Australia's mobile affordability is not too crazy. A few European countries get a better deal - good job Austria and Luxembourg - but in countries like the US, UK and NZ, they pay a higher share of income than us to get mobile services and data. You can only imagine how healthy the margins are in those countries! At the moment there are only three big mobile players in Australia - Telstra, Optus and Vodafone.

They each own their own mobile network, which gives them a lot of strength. But by owning the networks, the big guys call the shots. As we all know, more competition can lower prices. In businesses with lots of competition, prices are normally as low as they can go. But in mobile services there may still be some room to cut prices and make profit.

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Which is exactly why TPG is building its own network. In fact, they've already begun, with installations in Melbourne and Sydney. TPG is a local company, run by a man called David Teoh. He started the company in , but in the last decade has run hard on internet and mobile, both here and in Singapore.


  1. Stamp duty crippling Australia’s housing market: LJ Hooker.
  2. The great Aussie rip-off - MacroBusiness!
  3. Primary Section.

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The Great Australian Rippoff, Wake the fuck up Australia (PG Advisory)

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When I was a wee one I lived in a shoe. Now I live in a box and dream of home made meals and coffee!

What happened to the Great Australian Dream? Home truths on the housing debate

I only have the net. Mate if I buy a case of anything the neighbours complain about the Shane MacGowan impersonations in the small hours. With Hoyts and Village you can go buy vouchers on their website for use. If you have credit card rewards points, or an Entertainment book, or go with Red Energy you can get cinema tickets even cheaper. Might a little coincidental that Australian are some of the biggest downloaders of pirated content given the fact we pay some of the highest prices. It seems to be a kind of validation of success to pay top dollar for what the rest of the world considers to be a base model BMW 3 series, or to put a couple of hundred dollars through the pokies when out.

My friend is starting to specialise after finishing his med degree. I just see future rivers of gold when I look around the streets of Melbourne. The important word there is trend. At least the visible ones. I was worried that 10 pounds would not cover a pint and soft drink in a UK pub, was shocked when I got over 5 pound back in change! As a stupid seppo, the most stupid thing that I have ever done financially was to move to Australia.

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Back whan I was young and grotty and used to backpack the world, it used to really annoy those nice Canadians that we would call Canada Canadia. Though there was little that could have prepared my for the extreme cold of a clear, windy c degree day in Montreal, or the expansive white desolation of the Winnipeg prairie…. You should try and by a shout across the road. My fellow bogans love it. Get to boast about how they can afford it while taking pics of the latest tattoo and sharing them with their new phone. From memory I think an aquarium kiosk won. Perhaps other restaurants are resorting to cheap student labor that matches their style.

At the start of the cycle profiteering is also in there, but as costs rise and prices rise, guess what? Demand falls for most things, even services. The profiteering is then wiped out later in the cycle as rising costs are driven up and revenue stays static or falls. Those who are unable to raise prices any further come under pressure from the banks concerned about cashflow and loan repayments.

They quickly close up shop.

The great Australian housing rip-off

Those that are left to survive are those with low borrowings, innovative selling ideas and the ability to reduce margins. That said their revenues start to dip as those who lost jobs from stage 3 start to reduce demand. Some of the dives are the most interesting though. A fun thing to do that I would recommend is to ride a bicycle from Budapest to Prague. Pretty scenery, pretty people, good exercise and great beer at genuine third world prices.

MB — Hungary has top wines for a good price as well! So that is 2 food groups covered Beer and Wine. Cycling and outdoors is very well catered for with cycle-ways to ride on and beer-stops ever few kms! Also avoid govt imposed costs of employing people which are really a serious problem. What YOUR inflation is depends on what you buy. However without doubt inflation is much higher than stats record. However general inflation is very much higher than CPI as well. There was no comparison between the items last time and this time.

This time it had a thick coating of fairly tasteless but sweet candy and a little almost tasteless chocolate inside. Smarties used be really tasty chocolate offset with a thin layer of a tasty candy.


  • Redemption by Fire.
  • Is Australia's great mobile rip-off about to end?!
  • Stamp duty rip-off forcing sellers to stay put;
  • It must be close for most items. That really exposes high wages, utilities, raw material costs, insurance and a whole heap of other rip off costs which lead to higher service prices. This is an average Basket of goods and services. I paid 20 bucks last week for a chicken caeser pub lunch washed down with a 6 buck pint of lime and soda.

    When it equalized, the prices remained as we were so easily gouged. Three Asia-Pacific countries cracked the top Currently, and for a while now, prices are ridiculous for anyone who visits Australia from overseas. We have been ripped off on almost any item you wish to name for decades. Our housing is a recent addition in the last decade. As to being a tight arse, I refuse to pay double for something just because I can afford it.

    The beneficial side effect of removing 70 grand V8 utes driven by utter onanists is a benefit which cannot be overstated…. You would cry if I told you what the cost of production was excluding shipping. A single man with no financial baggage — do you mean like a young first time buyer who has just bought an apartment at k on a 60k salary as it has never been a better time to buy? Or those who are being paralysed by high rents even in share houses, who have little income to spend elsewhere? Mr Frazer was saying that he can get restuarant food and wine at prices far cheaper than than I have seen.

    It appears others have doubts as well. You seem very hypersensitive. They left that business model and then went with a low cost low rent BYO model and now their place is packed with diners and they make more money with far less stress. Fine dining is pretty much dead apart from the few places where they really do offer an exceptional dining experience, and each city can only support a few of those establishments. We have a lot of second rate bars and restaurants who charge very high prices and offer little in return, so I agree with Leiths points, but there are alternatives if you seek them out.

    The great Australian housing rip-off | Truth and Money

    Yes very similar to Ritzy Fish — I know the owners of that establishment as well, say hello to Jose for me the next time that you go. They are also very experienced restauranteurs who changed from fine dining to good quality low cost dining. My mum used to get those. I started to regularly send her cases from Margaret River.

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    Am aware of clean skins. As per my comment they can be hit and miss. Need to include price of aspirin if it is a miss. I understand your point. I have several Chateau Neuf de Pape and some Gigondas in my wine fridge, so I appreciate quality wine, but for casual everyday drinking it is a folly to spend large sums of money on every bottle. I have never come across a bad one at this price and you would need to pay twice as much for a label of similar quality. Winemakers who have a glut of wine would rather sell the surplus off in a clean skin than cheapen their brand, so a lot of clean skins are actually premium wines in disguise.

    It takes a lot of research to find the right clean skin wines, and I happen to know a lot of very keen wine researchers. Look for margaret river cleanskins, High quality, big glut! Avoid anything from SE australia vintage Thanks for the heads up. I have just returned from Margaret River — the vintage was quality but smaller than normal, so the quality of the cleanskins may fall off or the price may rise next year.

    Great little Viet and Asian restaurants around Darra and Inala. A big main with large, light side salad. Nothing is more off putting than seeing miserable, underpaid employees drop your food onto your table. Plenty cheaper eats about our area. A plate of dumplings at a cheaper asian establishment would fit that bill! Just look for an asian restaurant with no white people in it!