Dunno about anyone else downunder, but we've had a six-fold increase in our electricity bill and 3-fold in gas and water - but none are price increases per se. The Oz welfare folk (Centrelink) said nothing to us but I discovered that they told all utilities that we've been overseas "long enough to get back" and therefore no longer entitled to our usual pensioner rebates! Not sure what criteria they use to decide how long is long enough, but obviously don't include the fact that the airfares are six times higher than pre-pandemic prices and we simply can't meet pre-flight conditions like being fully jabbed (the VN gov't can't afford to buy anywhere near enough vaccine for the 98 million population so rely largely on donations, which are few and far between - and foreigners are understandably not at the top of the list). And we're legal guardians for our niece (Minh Anh, aka Sunny) so can't leave without her - but she's not an Oz citizen and the highway between where we live in Vung Tau and the Oz Consulate visa office in Saigon is still closed down, as is the visa office itself! But even if they opened tomorrow it wouldn't help because Sunny is our niece and therefore not "immediate family" under Oz law and therefore doesn't qualify for a visa under the Oz border lockdown rules. Grrrrrrr............ Oops, think I might have gone off message somewhere - sorry about that!
