When the arteries of global oil trade are threatened — as they are now, with US-Iran hostilities near the Strait of Hormuz and Houthi attacks closing Red Sea routes — the cost does not stay in the Middle East. It travels, as it always has, to the ordinary places where people fill their tanks, buy their groceries, and calculate what they can afford. Australians are once again being reminded that their economy is not an island from the world's instabilities, with petrol climbing to $1.85 a litre and the broader machinery of daily life — transport, food, manufacturing — beginning to feel the stra
Middle East tensions push Australian petrol prices higher, straining household budgets
International students and low-income households face increased transport and living costs; logistics workers and small business operators report mounting financial pressure.