Inga Ting

1 week 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 weeks 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 weeks 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.

Jan 9, 2025 | abc.net.au | Inga Ting |Thomas Brettell |Brody Smith |Katia Shatoba

It's the deadly cocktail of factors scientists have long feared: a perfect storm of powerful winds, bone-dry conditions and open land propelling wildfires into densely-packed neighbourhoods at bewildering speeds. Devastating wildfires — two still raging wholly out of control — have encircled Los Angeles, besieging the US' second-most populous city for a third day.

Dec 27, 2024 | abc.net.au | Inga Ting |Brody Smith

2024 shook the world in more ways than one. It was the rumble of discontent as half the world went to the polls. It was the shudder that went through financial markets following the largest-ever IT outage. It was the Earth shaking, literally, as thousands danced at the biggest concert tour in history. It was the shock waves that bloodshed in Ukraine, Gaza and more than 50 other conflict zones sent across the globe.