POLITICAL uncertainty, especially around the carbon tax and the higher cost of living it could presage, is weighing heavily on the minds and wallets of Australians, with an increasing number of consumers becoming conscious of their spending habits.
Leading retailers in Australia are struggling with declining sales -- David Jones boss Paul Zahra quipped recently that "frugal is the new black" -- and this week The Weekend Australian canvassed shoppers in Sydney and Perth to find out why.
Iona Sjahadi of Sydney said she had become more careful with her spending in the past six months. "It's hard to save for a house . . . so I am trying to cut down on shopping," said the 29-year-old from the city's eastern suburbs.
"I only really go shopping when there are sales going on."
But also affecting her spending, said Ms Sjahadi, was the political uncertainty in Canberra. "I'm especially wary of the carbon tax," she said. "I'm a mid-range earner, so I know it's going to hit us.
"It is unfortunate because I like to go shopping, so I'm just not really going out and being as generous to myself as I would like to be."
Ms Sjahadi is not alone. A number of shoppers The Weekend Australian spoke too pointed to the political uncertainty and rising interest rates as a reason for a change in their spending behaviour and a willingness to hunt for bargains online.
Perth shopper Helen Anderson said the future impact of a carbon tax was one of the reasons she was being more careful with how much she spent.
In Perth's CBD this week, the 53-year-old had just picked up some Polish drinking glasses and clothes, but was only encouraged to do so because they were on sale and heavily discounted.
She said she was opposed to a price on carbon and predicted it would negatively affect the economy because people would have less money to spend. "I think everyone will be worse off," she said. "Julia Gillard is making a big mess of it."
Ms Anderson said she was more concerned about the overall effect of the tax rather than how she would be affected. "I'm worried about the impact it's going to have on the nation," she said.
Although still shopping, friends Donna Abraham, Caroline Macies and Casey McGinness from Sydney said they were doing the bulk of it online from US or British websites, where it was cheaper and more convenient.
But Ms McGinness said the political uncertainty, in particular the carbon tax, was weighing on her mind. "We have been through two restructures (at work) in the last couple of years and it is quite stressful when you are worrying about your job, etcetera, and then suddenly you're going to get whacked with this stinging tax on top of it," Ms McGinness said.
"The government should be representing what people want, and people don't want it (the carbon tax)."
That cutback in spending is being felt across most corners of the retail sector, especially department stores and fashion and discretionary retailers.
Perth resident Roland McCormack said the carbon tax was not currently having a big impact on his spending, but he was concerned about how it would affect his future budget.
"It's a concern about how much prices will rise because it's the flow-on effect isn't it," he said.
The 29-year-old said he was also concerned about how effective the tax would be at changing people's habits and reducing carbon output if they ended up being generously compensated.
Noelle Brun said she was preparing for the impact of the carbon tax. "I've already organised a solar hot water system," she said. The 62-year-old was not convinced she and others would not be worse off due to compensation. "We will have to see what they will be promising."
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Leading Retailers Struggling With Declining Sales. (Read 1135 times)
