DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Sep Qtr 2012 to Dec Qtr 2012	Dec Qtr 2011 to Dec Qtr 2012
Weighted average of eight capital cities		% change	% change
All groups CPI		0.2	2.2
Food and non-alcoholic beverages		-0.1	0.3
Alcohol and tobacco		0.2	3.5
Clothing and footwear		0.8	0.6
Housing		0.2	4.4
Furnishings, household equipment and services		-0.6	0.8
Health		-0.9	7.7
Transport		0.7	2.0
Communication		1.3	1.6
Recreation and culture		0.6	-1.7
Education		0.0	6.1
Insurance and financial services		1.5	3.1
CPI analytical series
	All groups CPI, seasonally adjusted	0.5	2.2
	Trimmed mean	0.6	2.3
	Weighted median	0.5	2.3

All Groups CPI, Quarterly change

Contribution to quarterly change

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


THE ALL GROUPS CPI

• rose 0.2% in the December quarter 2012, compared with a rise of 1.4% in the September quarter 2012.
• rose 2.2% through the year to the December quarter 2012, compared with a rise of 2.0% through the year to the September quarter 2012.

OVERVIEW OF CPI MOVEMENTS

• The most significant price rises this quarter were for domestic holiday travel and accommodation (+6.2%), automotive fuel (+2.6%) and rents (+0.8%).
• The most significant price falls this quarter were for vegetables (-5.7%), audio, visual and computing equipment (-4.3%) and pharmaceutical products (-3.5%).

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
March 2013	24 April 2013
June 2013	24 July 2013
September 2013	23 October 2013
December 2013	22 January 2014

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

The CPI Analytical series 'All Groups CPI, seasonally adjusted' and 'Underlying trend series - Trimmed mean and Weighted median' have been revised as a result of the Annual Seasonal Re-analysis (ASR). The ASR reviews the seasonal adjustment of series in more detail than is possible in the quarterly processing cycle. Appendix 1 of this issue presents the outcomes of the ASR and provides a summary of the changes implemented from the December quarter 2012.

Changes to the seasonally adjusted series do not affect the original CPI index series.

For more information about seasonal adjustment see paragraphs 14 to 17 of the Explanatory notes or refer to Information Paper: Seasonal Adjustment of Consumer Price Indexes, 2011 (cat. no. 6401.0.55.003).


CHANGES IN FUTURE RELEASES

From the March quarter 2013, the time series spreadsheets, 'TABLE 15. CPI: Expenditure Class Index Numbers, Seasonally adjusted, Weighted Average of Eight Capital Cities' and 'TABLE 16. CPI: Expenditure Class, Combined seasonal adjustment factors, Weighted Average of Eight Capital Cities' will change. Index numbers and combined seasonal adjustment factors will be published for all CPI expenditure classes, including those series that are not seasonally adjusted. Previously, index numbers and combined seasonal adjustment factors were published for only those series that are seasonally adjusted. Mock-ups of the new time series spreadsheets are available from the 'Downloads' tab of this issue on the ABS website <https://www.abs.gov.au>.


ROUNDING

Any discrepancies between totals and sums of components in this publication are due to rounding.


INQUIRIES

For further information about these and related statistics, contact the National Information and Referral Service on 1300 135 070.