Residents count high cost of living as prices for goods and services soar in WA towns

Living in regional Western Australia remains a costly enterprise, with prices consistently higher than Perth across a range of goods and services.

The latest edition of a biennial report by the Department of Primary Industries and Regional Development has compared a standard basket of 185 goods and services across 39 WA towns.

The Pilbara continued to be the most expensive place to live, with new data in the Regional Price Index (RPI) showing the cost of living was 15 per cent higher than in Perth.

Tom Price overtook Port Hedland as the highest-cost town in the state, and was 29.7 per cent more expensive than Perth across the board.

The Kimberley was 8.9 per cent more expensive than Perth, and the highest in five of the eight indices, including food, transport, recreation and household costs.

It was outstripped by housing costs in the Pilbara, 40 per cent higher than Perth, and the most expensive area for health care.

The cost of clothing was highest in the Gascoyne.

The cost of fresh food and fuel is notoriously high in remote communities, and rentals are often unaffordable in the state’s northern towns.

The RPI is chiefly used by the government to set district allowances for its employees.

Struggling to make ends meet

Halls Creek remained the most expensive town in the Kimberley, at 12.5 per cent higher than Perth, but lost its ignominious 2019 title of the most expensive town in the state. 

Halls Creek pensioner and carer “Sarah”, who did not want her real name used, has been surviving on a tight budget.

The Jaru woman, 60, has lived in the remote town all her life and said while the cost of food and fuel had risen, her welfare payments had not kept up with that inflation.

“Living here is very, very difficult,” she said.

“[We’re] struggling to make ends meet. Some people only get money once a fortnight and that money can’t even buy the food to keep them going … because it’s too expensive.”

The RPI showed food cost 7.3 per cent more in the Kimberley than in Perth.

Sarah described how friends and family relied on tinned meat, flour, powdered milk and cooking oil, supplementing that occasionally by hunting for bush foods like kangaroo and goanna.

“Fruit is so expensive. I like to eat fruit but I have to be careful at how much I’m purchasing and have to choose,” she said.

She said it was common for local people at the check-out of the town’s only supermarket to leave items behind because they did not have enough money.

“You can see it in their faces, they don’t give you eye contact because it’s something that really hurts, [that] they can’t afford the cost of what they really need the most,” she said.

Mining town’s high price

The mining town of Tom Price had the biggest increase since the data was last collected in 2021.

The report found it was 29.7 per cent more expensive than Perth, up from 7.7 per cent.

Ted Blakely, who runs a coffee van in Tom Price, said he had noticed prices in the Pilbara town rise significantly.

“My milk I used to buy was $3.70, now it’s $6.20,” Mr Blakely said.

“I’m not really one that takes a lot of notice shopping, but I have recently.”

Mr Blakely said the price increases on everything from shopping to rental houses had affected many residents.

“I feel for the families,” he said.

“I talk to a lot of the mums … they’re saying their weekly shopping bills have gone from $600 a week to $1,000.”

Mr Blakely said fuel costs in the town were also a cause for concern.

“Fuel is definitely most people’s complaint,” he said.

“We’re always 30, 40 cents more expensive than anywhere else.”

As a small-business owner, he said cost increases on food items like milk and coffee beans as well as operational costs have a big impact on his ability to do business, and keep customer prices steady.

The only regions where indices were on par with Perth prices was Peel, the Midwest and South West.