This week Q+A looks at the cost-of-living crisis, visiting the community of Werribee – a suburb on Melbourne’s western fringe in one of Australia’s fastest-growing regions. Right across Australia, households are grappling with the soaring price of life’s essentials as the nation’s economic woes appear to be mounting. Reserve Bank Governor Philip Lowe admits he’s not sure how high interest rates will go, but he’s warned Australians to brace for inflation to peak at 7 per cent by Christmas.

So, just how are families and small businesses coping with the price pressures? Like many communities across the country, residents in suburban areas are worried planning isn’t keeping up with growth – will there be enough jobs, early education services, schools and infrastructure to keep pace with the population boom?

Skilled worker shortages are an issue nationwide, and the new Labor Government says an unprecedented blowout in visa processing could jeopardise the COVID recovery and promising to prioritise speeding up approvals. But while there aren’t enough workers to fill job vacancies, some small businesses are worried that the recent increase in the minimum wage will add too much to the cost of doing business. How is this impacting you?

Farmers say that the minimum wage increase will only add to the already climbing cost of food and families are also bracing for an energy bill price-shock. It’s a perfect storm of economic challenges – and households are paying the price.

We’ll look at the how Australians are coping with the price squeeze and see whether our suburbs are prepared for a population boom over the coming decades. How are you coping with the cost of living? What changes have you been forced to make? And what do our suburbs need most right now as we recover from the pandemic?

All this, plus the news of the week – join us for an important discussion.

Joining David Speers on the panel:

Brendan O'Connor, Minister for Skills and Training
Bridget McKenzie, Shadow Minister for Infrastructure, Transport and Regional Development
Gabriela D'Souza, Senior Economist, Committee for Economic Development of Australia
Lech Blaine, Writer and journalist
Alexi Boyd, CEO, Council of Small Business Organisations Australia

Please submit a question via our website by 9am Thursday for the chance to ask the panel. 

Each week, Q+A selects our top question to highlight in the newsletter.

Scroll down to watch Thursday's toughest question asked by Thejas Balaraman, who wanted to know if the NSW government learned from Victoria’s 2020 COVID lockdowns. 👇

Watch Q+A Thursday at 8.30pm on ABC TV, streamed live 8.30pm AEST on ABC iview or on our website.

Looking forward to hearing your questions.