The Gillard government oversaw the smallest increase in cost of living of any Australian government for at least 25 years despite the introduction of the carbon tax, a new study has found.
Moreover, Australian households have seen real incomes - disposable income minus cost of living increases - rise 15 per cent since just after Labor took office, giving the average household a $5324 a year boost, or $102 a week.
The results of the survey by the University of Canberra's national centre for social and economic modelling go much of the way to answering the question Opposition Leader Tony Abbott has asked repeatedly throughout the election campaign: ''Are we better off than we were six years ago?''
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The answer, at least in terms of family incomes, is an emphatic ''yes'' according to the centre's research. Since Labor took power, the ''standard of living'' - the centre's term for rises in disposable income subtracted by cost of living increases - has risen 2.6 per cent a year, the exact same average annual increase as during the 11 years of the Howard government.
During the first Rudd term, the cost of living rose 3.3 per cent each year but disposable incomes were up almost 6 per cent over the same period. During Ms Gillard's term, from 2010 to June 2013 (when the latest data was available), the cost of living rose 1.6 per cent while disposable income rose 4.2 per cent.
Treasurer Chris Bowen said: "Labor's world-recognised management of the economy through the GFC has flowed through to households.''
The Coalition has made easing cost of living pressures a central theme of the election campaign, with Mr Abbott, his senior colleagues and Coalition candidates regularly mentioning their determination to remove the carbon tax as a boon for families. The tax's axing will raise annual family incomes by as much as $500, the Coalition says.
Over the past year, there was a strong jump in electricity and gas prices as utilities rose almost 14 per cent, in part because of the carbon tax. There were also strong increases in housing (up 5.7 per cent) due to rising council rates, health (up 6 per cent) and education (up 5.5 per cent).
But these items account for less than 15 per cent of household expenditure.
The rises were offset by a sharp drop in mortgage repayments due to lower interest rates and a fall in audiovisual equipment. Other expenses - household goods and services, personal care, transport, clothing and food - all rose less than 1 per cent.
Lower income earners and renters were hardest hit by cost of living increases, although all cohorts of people enjoyed rising standards of living.
A spokesman for shadow treasurer Joe Hockey maintained that Australian families were under cost of living pressures. ''Under this government, families are still feeling the pain and Labor's solution is to impose new and increased taxes,'' he said.
''On average, electricity prices have increased over 90 per cent since Labor came to power, in part due to Labor's carbon tax. Labor runs around telling lies about the Coalition but won't admit that the policies of Labor - like the carbon tax - have driven up the cost of living for Australian families.''
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