This report examines affordability and access challenges in mental health care and outlines ways to strengthen Australia’s mental health financial safety net - funding supports that reduce personal treatment costs. The authors identify opportunities for improvement and offer key recommendations to ensure financially vulnerable Australians can access the care they need without falling into hardship.

This research looked at how Commonwealth Rent Assistance (CRA) – the most expensive demand-side housing support program in Australia – affects low-income families who rent privately. This research helps to understand how effective CRA is at reducing disadvantage and improving wellbeing. It also shows how these effects pass to children of households that receive CRA.

The report provides an update on the banking sector’s progress on addressing fees charged to low-income customers. This included how each bank was reviewing transaction data to identify low-income customers and addressing fee harm for low-income customers in high-fee transaction accounts. The report found even larger numbers of low-income Australians paying too much.

This report analyses the impact of unfair industry practices in the markets for essential goods and services such as energy, water, financial services, broadband, and food; sets out why markets, regulators and the government have failed low-income households; and makes recommendations to tackle the poverty premium and make markets work for low-income families.

The cost-of-living crisis, particularly in relation to housing, is impacting all Australians. This year’s snapshot is the first to address rental affordability across the whole southern Queensland region. The report aims to document the lived experience of those on a low income who have no choice but to compete for the few properties available to...