Alex Palmer

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Matt Martino |Katia Shatoba |Thomas Brettell |Alex Palmer

At federal elections, the only person who controls your preferences is you. But political parties will still try to influence how you number the boxes that decide who gets your vote if first pick doesn't get enough support. They do that through how-to-vote cards. Handed out at polling booths and available online, most of the major players at this election are asking voters to direct their preferences a certain way.

1 month ago | abc.net.au | Inga Ting |Alex Palmer

Skyrocketing rents have outpaced income growth in every regional area in Australia and all but one capital city, exclusive figures have revealed. In Perth, Australia's least affordable city for renters, median rent has risen 5.2 times faster than income since the start of the pandemic, soaring by 79 per cent between 2020 and 2024, compared to a 15 per cent rise in average rental household income.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Inga Ting |Katia Shatoba |Alex Palmer |Thomas Brettell

This September, Melanie Misuraca and her daughters will swallow their third rent hike in as many years. It will push their rent up to 59 per cent of their household income before tax. The family were forced to move in 2022, after the COVID public health emergency ended. They managed to stay on Queensland's Gold Coast but now pay nearly double for a smaller home — and the rent just keeps creeping up. "I've already signed the lease … it will be going up to $650 a week," says the single mum.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Inga Ting |Katia Shatoba |Alex Palmer |Thomas Brettell

This is Australia’s worst capital city for renters. At the start of the pandemic, just 2 per cent of postcodes were out of reach for the average income rental household. (A postcode is considered out of reach when the median rent reaches 30 per cent or more of household income before tax.)Four years later, close to 70 per cent of postcodes are beyond reach, according to the latest data. That's the situation in Perth. But it’s a similar story across the country.

2 months ago | abc.net.au | Mark Doman |Jack Fisher |Alex Palmer |Thomas Brettell |Margaret Burin

Sand dunes are often the first line of defence when powerful storms — like the one Cyclone Alfred delivered — batter our coastline. Years of built-up sand provide a natural buffer between coastal infrastructure and the elements. That natural defensive line, stretching from the Sunshine Coast in Queensland to Coffs Harbour in NSW, has been on show over the past week. Massive swell whipped up by the cyclone pummelled the coastline, shifting millions of cubic metres of sand back out into the ocean.