Australians ‘struggling more than ever' as debts reach six-year high
The National Debt Helpline had more than 168,000 people reach out during the 2024-25 financial year.
It marks a record high with the most calls and chat messages since 2018-19.
'It's really telling us that people are struggling more than ever,' helpline coordinator Vicki Staff told AAP.
The key issues weighing on Australians are housing stress, including mortgages, rent rates and strata or body corporate costs.
Utilities including electricity, gas and water costs are among the other concerns as well as problematic credit card debt, personal loans and owing the Australian Taxation Office.
Each state and territory can have a different order of the most prominent financial stress.
'You might find that in one state, utilities are actually coming through as the number one presenting issue, and then maybe housing number two,' Staff said.
The current financial issues are different to those experienced in 2018-19 when rental stress, strata and body corporate costs were not reported as key pressures.
Personal loans were also not a predominant issue in 2018-19. Instead, Buy Now Pay Later schemes were weighing on Australians.
When Australians call the debt helpline, it is when they believe they have exhausted all their options to solve their financial woes.
'People have really done their best ... to cope with this cost of living crisis, but eventually they get to a point where they can't think of what else to do,' Staff said.
'It seems pretty insurmountable. They're usually in a highly stressed state.'
But the debt crisis shows no sign of slowing, with 15,000 people already seeking support in July for the new financial year.
There is hope the Reserve Bank of Australia will lower interest rates — currently at 3.85 per cent — later in 2025, which would ease some pressure on households.
The central bank looks set to shave 25 basis points off the cash rate when it meets next week.
The National Debt Helpline offers financial counselling and self-help guides to help provide options to overcome difficult financial situations.
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Perth Now
5 hours ago
- Perth Now
Global chaos dominates Albo's NZ jaunt
Anthony Albanese has wrapped a 'successful visit' to New Zealand by joining Kiwi counterpart Christopher Luxon on a helicopter jaunt over the country's Southern Alps. The prime ministers were all hugs and smiles as they held their annual talks. But even in the chilly tranquillity of New Zealand's snow-capped peaks neither leader could escape the shadow of wars raging on multiple continents and conflict looming closer to home. It was against this backdrop that Mr Albanese on Sunday stressed that Canberra and Wellington were in lock-step. 'When Australians think of New Zealand, we think of the Anzacs and we think of the sacrifice that we've made together in defence of our freedom,' he told reporters in Arrowtown, a historic mining town northwest of Queenstown. 'Australia and New Zealand are great friends – we think alike and we act alike on the international stage. 'And this visit here has been one of warmth, of engagement, of practical moves forward, including the meeting that we had yesterday afternoon with leaders in the business community of both Australia and New Zealand, talking about how we can expand that seamless economy, making sure that we can boost productivity to the benefit of both of our economies. 'So, it's been a very successful visit.' Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he has had 'very successful visit' to New Zealand. Miles Holden / NewsWire Credit: NewsWire A day earlier, he and Mr Luxon released a statement outlining 41 shared commitments. They ranged from deeper trans-Tasman economic ties amid 'global economic uncertainty' to mutual defence aimed at 'protecting and advancing our shared interests in our region' – a not-so-subtle side-eye to China. Unlike Australia, New Zealand failed to escape Donald Trump's baseline tariff hike. With the US almost single-handedly driving up New Zealand's beef exports last year, cattle farmers stand to be hit the hardest. Meanwhile, Australia has managed to keep US tariffs down at 10 per cent, with exceptions for certain sectors. The Albanese government was also rattled again this week by the US President threatening levies of up to 250 per cent on pharmaceuticals. China has keenly pounced on both Australia and New Zealand, with Beijing positioning itself as a more reliable partner than Washington. But the chains attached to deeper engagement with China come with a suite of strategic concerns. On the regional threat from China, Mr Luxon said on Saturday New Zealand's role was 'to be a force multiplier'. 'We want to be a one … Anzac force essentially, operating within our region,' he told reporters in a press conference with Mr Albanese. 'And it covers all the gambit of helping the Pacific when there's emergencies and disasters.' He went on to say 'China is a massive, significant player in the world, and it's a permanent feature of global affairs as well'. Echoing Mr Albanese's own mantra, he said his government has 'an approach which is about co-operating where we can'. 'As I said to (Chinese President Xi Jinping), we co-operate where we can, we disagree where we must,' he said. In that same press conference, Mr Albanese was asked about deportations of New Zealand citizens under Section 501 of the Migration Act. Oftentimes, deportees have spent most of their lives in Australia and have, as Mr Luxon said, 'very little connection to New Zealand'. It has been a long-running issue in the otherwise cosiest of cosy foreign relationships that has caused Mr Luxon and his predecessors grief at home. But both leaders downplayed it, instead championing their unity on international affairs. The list of shared positions on major foreign policy issues was the longest list in their joint statement. 'Prime Ministers underscored the importance of peace and stability across the Taiwan Strait and called for the peaceful resolution of cross-strait issues through dialogue, without the threat or use of force or coercion and confirmed their shared opposition to unilateral changes to the status quo,' the statement said in another thinly veiled shot at China. Further afield was joint condemnation of 'Russia's illegal and unprovoked full-scale invasion of Ukraine' and 'deepening Russia-North Korea military co-operation'. They called the authoritarian alliance, specifically the deployment of North Korean troops to Ukraine, a 'dangerous expansion of Russia's war, with serious consequences for European and Indo-Pacific security'. Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says he has had 'very successful visit' to New Zealand. Miles Holden / NewsWire Credit: NewsWire The prime ministers also issued a joint call on Israel 'to immediately comply with its obligations under international law' and let the UN and aid agencies 'carry out their lifesaving work safely and unhindered' in Gaza, where civilian deaths from starvation are climbing after 22 months of war. 'Any attempt by Israel to escalate hostilities, including by taking control of Gaza City, would be wrong, risk violating international law, and exacerbate the human catastrophe already unfolding inside the Gaza Strip,' they said. 'We urge the Israeli Government to reconsider before it is too late.' It came after Israel's security cabinet approved plans to fully occupy Gaza with the stated goal of annihilating Hamas and handing the war-ravaged Palestinian territory to Arab forces – of which country or countries remains unknown.
The Advertiser
6 hours ago
- The Advertiser
'Great friends' Australia, NZ vow closer defence ties
China's assertiveness is pushing Australia and New Zealand's militaries ever-closer, with the Kiwi leader declaring the nation's defence forces should become as "interoperable as possible". Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon ended a warm weekend together in the cold, atop a glacier near the South Island ski resort town of Queenstown on Sunday. The pair traded some friendly banter about which country could lay claim to the invention of the pavlova at the end of their annual leaders' meeting. But in a gesture of peace, Mr Luxon met his trans-Tasman partner halfway, offering a dessert with one side adorned with kiwifruit while the other was generously topped with Tim-Tams. "We have solved a centuries-old debate," the New Zealand prime minister said in a video posted to social media featuring the sweet treat. Despite sitting on opposing sides of the left-right political divide, the interaction showed the close personal relationship between Mr Luxon and Mr Albanese. The pair developed a friendship when the former worked as an Air New Zealand chief executive while the now-Australian prime minister served as transport minister. Earlier on Sunday, the leaders visited an Anzac memorial at the nearby town of Arrowtown and laid wreaths to commemorate soldiers from both countries fallen side-by-side in joint battle. "When Australians think of New Zealand, we think of the Anzacs and we think of the sacrifice that we've made together in defence of our freedom," Mr Albanese told reporters. "Australia and New Zealand are great friends. We think alike and we act alike on the international stage." Mr Albanese and Mr Luxon vowed to further integrate the two nations' economies as the regional partners face the "most unpredictable and dangerous" strategic environment in decades. New Zealand has in recent decades sought to maintain a more independent foreign policy to Australia, retreating from the ANZUS alliance in the 1980s after banning US nuclear-powered submarines from its ports. But since the election of the conservative Mr Luxon in 2023 and amid increasing Chinese military assertiveness in the Pacific, the tone has shifted. Mr Luxon has spoken positively of Australia acquiring nuclear submarines through the AUKUS pact and on Sunday he floated the possibility of piggy-backing onto Australia's deal to acquire 10 frigates from Japan, further increasing interoperability between the two nations' militaries. New Zealand's upcoming bid to replace its naval helicopter fleet was another example where it could co-ordinate its military hardware with Australia. "We want to make sure that they're as interoperable as possible with the Australians when we go to market," Mr Luxon said. "We actually want to present joint procurement bids for those things that we can tap on the New Zealand requirements, and as a result, lower the collective cost for each of those individual items for each country." The move to tie New Zealand defence forces closely to those of Australia and allies like the US has been criticised as threatening its independent foreign policy, including by former longstanding Labour prime minister Helen Clark. But University of Otago politics researcher Nicholas Khoo said strengthening military co-operation was appropriate given the increasing uncertainty in international politics. "It's an area where we could legitimately expect to see very real progress," he told AAP. Prof Khoo said the meeting showed the two neighbours' "steady build-up" of co-operation, which didn't exist until two years ago. New Zealand only had one alliance-level partner in Australia and the summit showed its investment in that relationship, he said. Co-operation was also seen as a way to help both countries achieve their goals of boosting economic productivity, including by renewing joint standards arrangements to streamline regulations in various sectors. The pair spoke with business leaders on Saturday evening about removing regulatory pinchpoints to make it easier to operate across the two countries, Mr Luxon said. "We want the barnacles off the boat, to go as quickly as we can for both countries that are trying to improve productivity," he said. China's assertiveness is pushing Australia and New Zealand's militaries ever-closer, with the Kiwi leader declaring the nation's defence forces should become as "interoperable as possible". Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon ended a warm weekend together in the cold, atop a glacier near the South Island ski resort town of Queenstown on Sunday. The pair traded some friendly banter about which country could lay claim to the invention of the pavlova at the end of their annual leaders' meeting. But in a gesture of peace, Mr Luxon met his trans-Tasman partner halfway, offering a dessert with one side adorned with kiwifruit while the other was generously topped with Tim-Tams. "We have solved a centuries-old debate," the New Zealand prime minister said in a video posted to social media featuring the sweet treat. Despite sitting on opposing sides of the left-right political divide, the interaction showed the close personal relationship between Mr Luxon and Mr Albanese. The pair developed a friendship when the former worked as an Air New Zealand chief executive while the now-Australian prime minister served as transport minister. Earlier on Sunday, the leaders visited an Anzac memorial at the nearby town of Arrowtown and laid wreaths to commemorate soldiers from both countries fallen side-by-side in joint battle. "When Australians think of New Zealand, we think of the Anzacs and we think of the sacrifice that we've made together in defence of our freedom," Mr Albanese told reporters. "Australia and New Zealand are great friends. We think alike and we act alike on the international stage." Mr Albanese and Mr Luxon vowed to further integrate the two nations' economies as the regional partners face the "most unpredictable and dangerous" strategic environment in decades. New Zealand has in recent decades sought to maintain a more independent foreign policy to Australia, retreating from the ANZUS alliance in the 1980s after banning US nuclear-powered submarines from its ports. But since the election of the conservative Mr Luxon in 2023 and amid increasing Chinese military assertiveness in the Pacific, the tone has shifted. Mr Luxon has spoken positively of Australia acquiring nuclear submarines through the AUKUS pact and on Sunday he floated the possibility of piggy-backing onto Australia's deal to acquire 10 frigates from Japan, further increasing interoperability between the two nations' militaries. New Zealand's upcoming bid to replace its naval helicopter fleet was another example where it could co-ordinate its military hardware with Australia. "We want to make sure that they're as interoperable as possible with the Australians when we go to market," Mr Luxon said. "We actually want to present joint procurement bids for those things that we can tap on the New Zealand requirements, and as a result, lower the collective cost for each of those individual items for each country." The move to tie New Zealand defence forces closely to those of Australia and allies like the US has been criticised as threatening its independent foreign policy, including by former longstanding Labour prime minister Helen Clark. But University of Otago politics researcher Nicholas Khoo said strengthening military co-operation was appropriate given the increasing uncertainty in international politics. "It's an area where we could legitimately expect to see very real progress," he told AAP. Prof Khoo said the meeting showed the two neighbours' "steady build-up" of co-operation, which didn't exist until two years ago. New Zealand only had one alliance-level partner in Australia and the summit showed its investment in that relationship, he said. Co-operation was also seen as a way to help both countries achieve their goals of boosting economic productivity, including by renewing joint standards arrangements to streamline regulations in various sectors. The pair spoke with business leaders on Saturday evening about removing regulatory pinchpoints to make it easier to operate across the two countries, Mr Luxon said. "We want the barnacles off the boat, to go as quickly as we can for both countries that are trying to improve productivity," he said. China's assertiveness is pushing Australia and New Zealand's militaries ever-closer, with the Kiwi leader declaring the nation's defence forces should become as "interoperable as possible". Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon ended a warm weekend together in the cold, atop a glacier near the South Island ski resort town of Queenstown on Sunday. The pair traded some friendly banter about which country could lay claim to the invention of the pavlova at the end of their annual leaders' meeting. But in a gesture of peace, Mr Luxon met his trans-Tasman partner halfway, offering a dessert with one side adorned with kiwifruit while the other was generously topped with Tim-Tams. "We have solved a centuries-old debate," the New Zealand prime minister said in a video posted to social media featuring the sweet treat. Despite sitting on opposing sides of the left-right political divide, the interaction showed the close personal relationship between Mr Luxon and Mr Albanese. The pair developed a friendship when the former worked as an Air New Zealand chief executive while the now-Australian prime minister served as transport minister. Earlier on Sunday, the leaders visited an Anzac memorial at the nearby town of Arrowtown and laid wreaths to commemorate soldiers from both countries fallen side-by-side in joint battle. "When Australians think of New Zealand, we think of the Anzacs and we think of the sacrifice that we've made together in defence of our freedom," Mr Albanese told reporters. "Australia and New Zealand are great friends. We think alike and we act alike on the international stage." Mr Albanese and Mr Luxon vowed to further integrate the two nations' economies as the regional partners face the "most unpredictable and dangerous" strategic environment in decades. New Zealand has in recent decades sought to maintain a more independent foreign policy to Australia, retreating from the ANZUS alliance in the 1980s after banning US nuclear-powered submarines from its ports. But since the election of the conservative Mr Luxon in 2023 and amid increasing Chinese military assertiveness in the Pacific, the tone has shifted. Mr Luxon has spoken positively of Australia acquiring nuclear submarines through the AUKUS pact and on Sunday he floated the possibility of piggy-backing onto Australia's deal to acquire 10 frigates from Japan, further increasing interoperability between the two nations' militaries. New Zealand's upcoming bid to replace its naval helicopter fleet was another example where it could co-ordinate its military hardware with Australia. "We want to make sure that they're as interoperable as possible with the Australians when we go to market," Mr Luxon said. "We actually want to present joint procurement bids for those things that we can tap on the New Zealand requirements, and as a result, lower the collective cost for each of those individual items for each country." The move to tie New Zealand defence forces closely to those of Australia and allies like the US has been criticised as threatening its independent foreign policy, including by former longstanding Labour prime minister Helen Clark. But University of Otago politics researcher Nicholas Khoo said strengthening military co-operation was appropriate given the increasing uncertainty in international politics. "It's an area where we could legitimately expect to see very real progress," he told AAP. Prof Khoo said the meeting showed the two neighbours' "steady build-up" of co-operation, which didn't exist until two years ago. New Zealand only had one alliance-level partner in Australia and the summit showed its investment in that relationship, he said. Co-operation was also seen as a way to help both countries achieve their goals of boosting economic productivity, including by renewing joint standards arrangements to streamline regulations in various sectors. The pair spoke with business leaders on Saturday evening about removing regulatory pinchpoints to make it easier to operate across the two countries, Mr Luxon said. "We want the barnacles off the boat, to go as quickly as we can for both countries that are trying to improve productivity," he said. China's assertiveness is pushing Australia and New Zealand's militaries ever-closer, with the Kiwi leader declaring the nation's defence forces should become as "interoperable as possible". Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese and his New Zealand counterpart Christopher Luxon ended a warm weekend together in the cold, atop a glacier near the South Island ski resort town of Queenstown on Sunday. The pair traded some friendly banter about which country could lay claim to the invention of the pavlova at the end of their annual leaders' meeting. But in a gesture of peace, Mr Luxon met his trans-Tasman partner halfway, offering a dessert with one side adorned with kiwifruit while the other was generously topped with Tim-Tams. "We have solved a centuries-old debate," the New Zealand prime minister said in a video posted to social media featuring the sweet treat. Despite sitting on opposing sides of the left-right political divide, the interaction showed the close personal relationship between Mr Luxon and Mr Albanese. The pair developed a friendship when the former worked as an Air New Zealand chief executive while the now-Australian prime minister served as transport minister. Earlier on Sunday, the leaders visited an Anzac memorial at the nearby town of Arrowtown and laid wreaths to commemorate soldiers from both countries fallen side-by-side in joint battle. "When Australians think of New Zealand, we think of the Anzacs and we think of the sacrifice that we've made together in defence of our freedom," Mr Albanese told reporters. "Australia and New Zealand are great friends. We think alike and we act alike on the international stage." Mr Albanese and Mr Luxon vowed to further integrate the two nations' economies as the regional partners face the "most unpredictable and dangerous" strategic environment in decades. New Zealand has in recent decades sought to maintain a more independent foreign policy to Australia, retreating from the ANZUS alliance in the 1980s after banning US nuclear-powered submarines from its ports. But since the election of the conservative Mr Luxon in 2023 and amid increasing Chinese military assertiveness in the Pacific, the tone has shifted. Mr Luxon has spoken positively of Australia acquiring nuclear submarines through the AUKUS pact and on Sunday he floated the possibility of piggy-backing onto Australia's deal to acquire 10 frigates from Japan, further increasing interoperability between the two nations' militaries. New Zealand's upcoming bid to replace its naval helicopter fleet was another example where it could co-ordinate its military hardware with Australia. "We want to make sure that they're as interoperable as possible with the Australians when we go to market," Mr Luxon said. "We actually want to present joint procurement bids for those things that we can tap on the New Zealand requirements, and as a result, lower the collective cost for each of those individual items for each country." The move to tie New Zealand defence forces closely to those of Australia and allies like the US has been criticised as threatening its independent foreign policy, including by former longstanding Labour prime minister Helen Clark. But University of Otago politics researcher Nicholas Khoo said strengthening military co-operation was appropriate given the increasing uncertainty in international politics. "It's an area where we could legitimately expect to see very real progress," he told AAP. Prof Khoo said the meeting showed the two neighbours' "steady build-up" of co-operation, which didn't exist until two years ago. New Zealand only had one alliance-level partner in Australia and the summit showed its investment in that relationship, he said. Co-operation was also seen as a way to help both countries achieve their goals of boosting economic productivity, including by renewing joint standards arrangements to streamline regulations in various sectors. The pair spoke with business leaders on Saturday evening about removing regulatory pinchpoints to make it easier to operate across the two countries, Mr Luxon said. "We want the barnacles off the boat, to go as quickly as we can for both countries that are trying to improve productivity," he said.
Perth Now
9 hours ago
- Perth Now
‘Dirty bomb': Huge warning on AI
Artificial intelligence developed outside the West could teach Australians 'how to make a dirty bomb' and let authoritarian regimes push alternate realities, the country's leading cybersecurity expert says. Big tech is promising AI will revolutionise every aspect of modern life, from how people find information to how they do their jobs. The promise has been heard in capitals across the world, with governments scrambling to figure out how to reap the economic benefits of early adoption while also not knowing what they are dealing with. Jobs are top-of-mind, but the challenges stretch far beyond which roles could be stamped out in the relentless march of technological progress. Alastair MacGibbon is the chief strategy officer at CyberCX – a Canberra-based cybersecurity firm that helps government and businesses thwart threats from hostile states to private hackers. Among the biggest challenges of AI, according to Mr MacGibbon, is hostile governments waging informational warfare. CyberCX chief strategy officer Alastair MacGibbon says authoritarian regimes could push alternate realities on Western users. CyberCX Credit: Supplied 'The concept of AI models developed outside of the West being used in the West is highly problematic,' he told NewsWire. 'This is why I was so concerned about DeepSeek because with AI models, one can distort truth.' China's DeepSeek model wiped a trillion dollars in value off US tech titans when it launched in January. Nvidia alone suffered a $600bn blow. The disruption was largely because DeepSeek is free and open source, unlike its American rivals, meaning anyone with an internet connection can use it. While DeepSeek is backed by Chinese hedgefund High-Flyer, the platform is riddled with code linking it to the government. NewsWire earlier this year also confirmed DeepSeek had a deeply embedded bias that persisted even when the model was downloaded and run offline. China's DeepSeek wiped hundreds of billions in value off tech stocks when it launched in January. Nadir Kinani / NewsWire Credit: News Corp Australia It repeatedly refused to answer questions about the Tiananmen Square massacre in 1989. Mr MacGibbon said Beijing could tweak history and make it seem as though the massacre did not 'even happen'. 'Why wouldn't you ideologically want to poison the knowledge base of the world?' he said. 'More broadly, AI models are increasingly being trained on data that was AI generated, and you're sort of getting this weird sort of beigeness of truth that is being reflected in AI results. 'So imagine what an AI model that's trained by or developed in a totalitarian, revisionist regime will do for truth. 'It should scare people considering the role we see AI playing this generation.' Even Western models can get things wrong. Elon Musk's Grok repeatedly misidentified a photo of a severely emaciated girl in Gaza, telling users on X it was taken in Yemen in 2018. The photo was taken by a photographer for Agence France-Presse in August this year. The news agency swiftly corrected Grok, which conceded it was mistaken. But Western models have guardrails that block users from using them for harm, such as bomb-making. Mr MacGibbon said AI developed by non-Western countries could drop those safeguards, either by shoddy work or by design. 'It's easy enough to get around the guardrails of the semi-responsible Western AI companies, who vary from marginally responsible to marginally irresponsible in terms of their guardrails about social harm and their responsibility,' Mr MacGibbon said. 'Imagine people who want to cause harm and dissent. 'So the combination of truth no longer being the truth, and the ability to give you access to how to … throw sand in the gears of the West. 'I don't think that's at all beyond the realms of the madness of these regimes.'
