As Pure Poison commentor Matthew wisely noted at the bottom of the post from which we are about to liberally quote: “This is why one should never rely on a single source for news.”

Two newspapers interpret the same economic news, the ABS household expenditure survey:

The Australian: ‘Snapshot Of A Nation Under Stress‘

“One in four households relies on welfare benefits while one in seven is spending more than it earns, as increasing cost-of-living pressures bear down on families.”

The Age: ‘Spending survey shows we are better off than we think‘

“You would not believe it if you listened to our politicians, but household fuel and power bills eat up no more of our wallets than they did six years ago. And petrol eats up less.”

They report, you decide.