DECEMBER KEY FIGURES

Weighted average of eight capital cities	Sep Qtr 2009 to Dec Qtr 2009 % change	Dec Qtr 2008 to Dec Qtr 2009 % change
Food	1.7	1.5
Alcohol and tobacco	0.4	3.2
Clothing and footwear	0.1	2.1
Housing	1.1	7.1
Household contents and services	-0.1	3.5
Health	-2.1	4.3
Transportation	-1.1	0.7
Communication	-0.1	0.6
Recreation	1.4	1.9
Education	0.0	5.6
Financial and insurance services	1.8	-4.9
All groups	0.6	2.7

PBLCI - All Groups, Quarterly change

PBLCI - All Groups, Contribution to quarterly change - December quarter 2009

DECEMBER KEY POINTS


THE ALL GROUPS PENSIONER AND BENEFICIARY LIVING COST INDEX (PBLCI)

• rose 0.6% for the December quarter 2009, compared with a rise of 1.0% in the September quarter 2009.
• showed a larger increase for the December quarter 2009 (+0.6%) than the CPI (+0.5%).
• rose 2.7% through the year to December quarter 2009, compared to a through the year rise of 1.9% to September quarter 2009.
• showed a larger increase through the year to December quarter 2009 than the CPI (+2.1%).

OVERVIEW OF PBLCI MOVEMENTS

• The most significant price rises this quarter were for food (+1.7%) and housing (+1.1%).
• The most significant offsetting price falls this quarter were for transportation (-1.1%) and health (-2.1%).

NOTES

FORTHCOMING ISSUES

ISSUE (QUARTER)	Release Date
March 2010	17 May 2010
June 2010	16 August 2010
September 2010	15 November 2010
December 2010	14 February 2011

ROUNDING

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


INDEX NUMBERS USE REFERENCE BASE OF JUNE QUARTER 2007 = 100.0

To allow comparison of the Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index with other ABS price indexes, all index numbers in this publication use a reference base of June quarter 2007 = 100.0. However, percentage changes used in this publication for the Consumer Price Index are as published in Consumer Price Index, Australia (cat. no. 6401.0). The percentage changes for Analytical Living Cost Indexes used in this publication are as published in Analytical Living Cost Indexes for Selected Australian Household Types (cat. no. 6463.0).


INQUIRIES

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


SUMMARY COMMENTARY


THE PENSIONER AND BENEFICIARY LIVING COST INDEX

The Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index (PBLCI) has been designed to answer the question:

'By how much would after tax money incomes need to change to allow age pensioners and other households whose principal source of income is government benefits to purchase the same quantity of consumer goods and services that they purchased in the base period?'

The PBLCI has been derived by combining the age pensioner Analytical Living Cost Index (ALCI) and the other government transfer recipient ALCI. Living cost indexes are intended to measure the impact of changes in prices on the out-of-pocket expenses incurred by these particular household types.

In the December quarter 2009 the PBLCI increased by 0.6%. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) rose by 0.5% over the same period.

Since the PBLCI series began in June quarter 2007 it has risen 8.8%, compared to 7.6% for the CPI. Differences have occurred for a number of reasons that relate to factors that affect the component series used to compile the PBLCI. The inclusion of mortgage interest and consumer credit charges and the different treatments of housing and insurance in the PBLCI result in variations between the PBLCI and the CPI series. The expenditure patterns of age pensioner and other government transfer recipient households differ from those of the overall household sector covered by the CPI. This also contributes to differences in the percentage changes.

For more information on the relationship between the PBLCI, CPI and the ALCIs, see the Explanatory Notes.


MAIN CONTRIBUTORS TO CHANGE

The PBLCI increased 0.6% for the December quarter 2009. Food (+1.7%) made the greatest contribution to the quarterly rise due to increases in fruit and vegetables. Housing (+1.1%) also saw increases for the quarter as a result of rises in rents and electricity.

The most significant offsets were provided by transportation (-1.1%) and health (-2.1%) due to falls in automotive fuel and pharmaceuticals respectively.

The PBLCI (+0.6%) showed a slightly larger increase compared to the CPI (+0.5%) for the quarter. PBLCI households have a relatively higher proportion of expenditure attributed to food items than the wider CPI population group, especially for fruit and vegetables, which recorded rises for the quarter. Rises for utilities and rents, for which PBLCI households also have a significantly higher proportion of expenditure, also recorded strong increases for the December quarter.

The PBLCI increased 2.7% for the year to December quarter 2009. Housing (+7.1%) and household contents and services (+3.5%) made the greatest contributions to the rise. Offsets were provided by financial and insurance services (-4.9%).


GRAPHS

Table 1: Pensioner and Beneficiary Living Cost Index, All Groups, Weighted average of eight capital cities - index numbers, percentage change and points change
		Percentage Change		Points change
Quarters	Index Numbers(a)	From previous quarter	From corresponding quarter of previous year	From previous quarter	From corresponding quarter of previous year
2007
September	100.9	0.9	. .	0.9	. .
December	101.7	0.8	. .	0.8	. .
2008
March	103.4	1.6	. .	1.7	. .
June	104.7	1.3	4.7	1.3	4.7
September	106.1	1.3	5.2	1.4	5.2
December	106.0	-0.1	4.2	-0.1	4.3
2009
March	107.0	0.9	3.5	1.0	3.6
June	107.1	0.1	2.3	0.1	2.4
September	108.2	1.0	1.9	1.1	2.1
December	108.8	0.6	2.7	0.6	2.8
. . not applicable
(a) Reference base of index: June quarter 2007 = 100.0.

Table 2: Percentage change in analytical living cost indexes, PBLCI and CPI, by commodity group - September quarter 2009 to December quarter 2009
Commodity group	Age pensioner	Other government transfer recipient	PBLCI	CPI
Food	1.9	1.5	1.7	1.4
Alcohol and tobacco	0.6	0.2	0.4	0.5
Clothing and footwear	0.1	0.2	0.1	0.2
Housing(a)	1.0	1.1	1.1	0.8
Household contents and services	-0.2	-0.1	-0.1	0.0
Health	-2.1	-2.2	-2.1	-0.9
Transportation	-1.0	-1.1	-1.1	-0.8
Communication	-0.1	-0.1	-0.1	0.0
Recreation	1.9	1.1	1.4	1.5
Education	0.0	0.1	0.0	0.1
Financial and insurance services(b)	1.3	2.2	1.8	0.7
All groups	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.5
(a) House purchases are included in the CPI but excluded from the population subgroup indexes
(b) Includes interest charges and general insurance. Interest charges are excluded from the CPI and general insurance is calculated on a different basis

Table 3: Points contribution to quarterly change, September quarter 2009 to December quarter 2009 - index points
Commodity group	Age pensioner ALCI(a)	Other government transfer recipient ALCI(a)	PBLCI(b)	CPI(a)
Food	0.45	0.32	0.37	0.25
Alcohol and tobacco	0.05	0.02	0.03	0.04
Clothing and footwear	0.00	0.01	0.01	0.01
Housing(c)	0.20	0.26	0.23	0.19
Household contents and services	-0.02	-0.01	-0.02	0.00
Health	-0.16	-0.08	-0.11	-0.05
Transportation	-0.12	-0.12	-0.13	-0.10
Communication	0.00	0.00	-0.01	0.00
Recreation	0.20	0.11	0.15	0.17
Education	0.00	0.01	0.00	0.00
Financial and insurance services(d)	0.08	0.14	0.12	0.07
All groups	0.7	0.7	0.6	0.6
(a) Re-referenced to base of June quarter 2007 = 100.0.
(b) Reference base of index: June quarter 2007 = 100.0.
(c) House purchases are included in the CPI but excluded from the other indexes.
(d) Includes interest charges and general insurance, except for the CPI. Interest charges are excluded from the CPI and general insurance is calculated on a different basis.

Table 4: Contribution to total index, by commodity group - September quarter 2009 to December quarter 2009 - index points
	Age pensioner ALCI(a)		Other government transfer recipient ALCI(a)		PBLCI(b)		CPI(a)
Commodity group	Sep qtr 2009	Dec qtr 2009	Sep qtr 2009	Dec qtr 2009	Sep qtr 2009	Dec qtr 2009	Sep qtr 2009	Dec qtr 2009
Food	23.39	23.83	21.07	21.39	22.05	22.42	17.38	17.63
Alcohol and tobacco	7.85	7.90	11.10	11.13	9.74	9.77	7.55	7.59
Clothing and footwear	4.82	4.82	4.57	4.57	4.67	4.68	3.75	3.76
Housing(c)	20.13	20.34	23.04	23.30	21.82	22.05	22.63	22.82
Household contents and services	11.37	11.35	10.42	10.41	10.82	10.80	9.59	9.59
Health	7.97	7.81	3.44	3.36	5.35	5.24	5.26	5.21
Transportation	11.94	11.82	11.48	11.36	11.68	11.55	13.64	13.54
Communication	3.73	3.73	4.36	4.36	4.10	4.09	3.17	3.17
Recreation	11.28	11.48	9.92	10.03	10.49	10.64	11.49	11.66
Education	0.17	0.17	2.04	2.05	1.26	1.26	3.11	3.11
Financial and insurance services(d)	5.64	5.72	6.61	6.76	6.20	6.32	9.42	9.49
All groups	108.3	109.0	108.1	108.7	108.2	108.8	107.0	107.6
(a) Re-referenced to base of June quarter 2007 = 100.0
(b) Reference base of index: June quarter 2007 = 100.0
(c) House purchases are included in the CPI but excluded from the other indexes.
(d) Includes interest charges and general insurance, except for the CPI. Interest charges are excluded from the CPI and general insurance is calculated on a different basis.

Table 5: Percentage change in analytical living cost indexes, PBLCI and CPI, Commodity group, December quarter 2008 to December quarter 2009
Commodity group	Age pensioner	Other government transfer recipient	PBLCI	CPI
Food	1.5	1.5	1.5	1.9
Alcohol and tobacco	3.3	3.1	3.2	3.1
Clothing and footwear	1.9	2.2	2.1	2.1
Housing(a)	7.4	7.0	7.1	5.5
Household contents and services	3.3	3.7	3.5	3.6
Health	4.5	4.1	4.3	4.7
Transportation	0.8	0.7	0.7	1.2
Communication	0.6	0.6	0.6	0.6
Recreation	1.7	2.0	1.9	1.1
Education	5.6	5.6	5.6	5.6
Financial and insurance services(b)	3.8	-9.6	-4.9	-6.3
All groups	3.2	2.3	2.7	2.1
(a) House purchases are included in the CPI but excluded from other indexes.
(b) Includes interest charges and general insurance, except for the CPI. Interest charges are excluded from the CPI and general insurance is calculated on a different basis.

Table 6: Points contribution to annual change, December quarter 2008 to December quarter 2009 - index points
Commodity group	Age pensioner ALCI(a)	Other government transfer recipient ALCI(a)	PBLCI(b)	CPI(a)
Food	0.36	0.33	0.34	0.33
Alcohol and tobacco	0.25	0.34	0.30	0.23
Clothing and footwear	0.09	0.10	0.10	0.08
Housing(c)	1.40	1.52	1.47	1.20
Household contents and services	0.37	0.37	0.36	0.33
Health	0.33	0.13	0.22	0.23
Transportation	0.10	0.07	0.08	0.16
Communication	0.03	0.02	0.02	0.01
Recreation	0.19	0.20	0.20	0.12
Education	0.00	0.11	0.07	0.16
Financial and insurance services(d)	0.21	-0.72	-0.33	-0.64
All groups	3.3	2.5	2.8	2.2
(a) Re-referenced to base of June quarter 2007 = 100.0
(b) Reference base of index: June quarter 2007 = 100.0
(c) House purchases are included in the CPI but excluded from the other indexes.
(d) Includes interest charges and general insurance, except for the CPI. Interest charges are excluded from the CPI and general insurance is calculated on a different basis.

Table 7: Contribution to total index, Commodity group, December quarter 2008 to December quarter 2009 - index points
	Age pensioner ALCI(a)		Other government transfer recipient ALCI(a)		PBLCI(b)		CPI(b)
Commodity group	Dec qtr 2008	Dec qtr 2009	Dec qtr 2008	Dec qtr 2009	Dec qtr 2008	Dec qtr 2009	Dec qtr 2008	Dec qtr 2009
Food	23.47	23.83	21.06	21.39	22.08	22.42	17.30	17.63
Alcohol and tobacco	7.65	7.90	10.79	11.13	9.47	9.77	7.36	7.59
Clothing and footwear	4.73	4.82	4.47	4.57	4.58	4.68	3.68	3.76
Housing(c)	18.94	20.34	21.78	23.30	20.58	22.05	21.62	22.82
Household contents and services	10.98	11.35	10.04	10.41	10.44	10.80	9.26	9.59
Health	7.48	7.81	3.23	3.36	5.02	5.24	4.98	5.21
Transportation	11.72	11.82	11.29	11.36	11.47	11.55	13.38	13.54
Communication	3.70	3.73	4.34	4.36	4.07	4.09	3.16	3.17
Recreation	11.29	11.48	9.83	10.03	10.44	10.64	11.54	11.66
Education	0.17	0.17	1.94	2.05	1.19	1.26	2.95	3.11
Financial and insurance services(d)	5.51	5.72	7.48	6.76	6.65	6.32	10.13	9.49
All groups	105.6	109.0	106.2	108.7	106.0	108.8	105.4	107.6
(a) Re-referenced to base of June quarter 2007 = 100.0.
(b) Reference base of index: June quarter 2007 = 100.0.
(c) House purchases are included in the CPI but excluded from the other indexes.
(d) Includes interest charges and general insurance, except for the CPI. Interest charges are excluded from the CPI and general insurance is calculated on a different basis.