| Good morning Wentyl,
The cost of living crisis is hitting harder in the bush than it is in the city, with two out of five regional residents struggling to make ends meet
and barely one in 10 feeling comfortable with their finances.
 Regional Australians love their quality of life – 77 per cent rate it as excellent, very good or good. But according to the
Mood of the Bush survey, this has fallen since last year, and city slickers are now marginally more likely to be happier.
The survey – conducted by SEC Newgate for News Corp Australia – found 69 per cent of regional Australians named the cost of living as the issue of most concern to them, which was overwhelmingly ahead of housing affordability, crime and healthcare.
See more poll results. More
FALLING BEHIND
Regional towns generating ‘hundreds of millions’ in tax revenue are being starved of essential infrastructure,
with a majority of residents dissatisfied with basic services and lack of housing.
BUSHFIRES EXPOSED
Australia’s ongoing threat of bushfires has put an alarming number of species at a much higher risk of extinction, as some of our ecosystems get pushed beyond their limits.
Research from Federation University shows the fallout of the massive Black Summer fires — where more than one million hectares were burnt across eastern Australia at the beginning of the decade — is
still having a worrying impact on native wildlife.
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