DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

		Sep Qtr 2011 to Dec Qtr 2011	Dec Qtr 2010 to Dec Qtr 2011
Weighted average of eight capital cities		% change	% change
All groups CPI		0.0	3.1
Food and non–alcoholic beverages		-1.5	2.5
Alcohol and tobacco		0.9	3.1
Clothing and footwear		-0.5	2.6
Housing		0.4	4.0
Furnishings, household equipment and services		0.1	0.2
Health		-1.2	3.6
Transport		0.0	4.0
Communication		1.1	1.6
Recreation and culture		0.8	0.5
Education		0.0	5.8
Insurance and financial services		0.6	5.6
CPI analytical series
	All groups CPI, seasonally adjusted	0.2	3.0
	Trimmed mean	0.6	2.6
	Weighted median	0.5	2.6

All Groups CPI, Quarterly change

Contribution to quarterly change

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


THE ALL GROUPS CPI

• was unchanged in the December quarter 2011, compared with a rise of 0.6% in the September quarter 2011.
• rose 3.1% through the year to the December quarter 2011, compared with a rise of 3.5% through the year to the September quarter 2011.

OVERVIEW OF CPI MOVEMENTS

• The most significant price rises this quarter were for domestic holiday travel and accommodation (+7.3%), rents (+1.0%), telecommunication equipment and services (+1.1%), beer (+1.2%) and automotive fuel (+0.7%).
• The most significant price falls this quarter were for fruit (–13.4%), pharmaceutical products (–5.6%), vegetables (–5.0%), audio, visual and computing equipment (–3.4%), international holiday travel and accommodation (–1.9%) and motor vehicles (–1.2%).

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
March 2012	24 April 2012
June 2012	25 July 2012
Sept 2012	24 October 2012
December 2012	23 January 2013

CHANGES IN THIS ISSUE

An additional time series spreadsheet, 'CPI expenditure class, combined seasonal adjustment factors, weighted average of eight capital cities' (Table 16), is now available on the ABS web site <https://www.abs.gov.au>. It contains the factors used to calculate the seasonally adjusted expenditure class series. Factors are only included for those expenditure classes that are seasonally adjusted. See paragraphs 14–16 of the Explanatory Notes for more details on seasonal adjustment.

As part of the ongoing sample review program, from the December quarter 2011 onwards, the approach to measuring the price change of rents has changed. When introducing a new property into the sample to replace one that is no longer available for rent by households, an adjustment is now made to ensure the best measure of the price change of rents over time.


CHANGES IN FUTURE RELEASES

From the September quarter 2012, all index numbers will be calculated on a new reference base of 2011–12. This will result in the index numbers for each index series being reset to 100.0 for the financial year 2011–12. Period–to–period percentage changes may differ slightly to those previously published due to rounding and the re–referencing. These differences do not constitute a revision. Further information on re–referencing can be found in chapter 12 of Information Paper: Consumer Price Index Concepts, Sources and Methods, 2011 (cat. no. 6461.0).


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.