Reporter Steph Ferrier has been talking to members of the community of Sunshine in Melbourne's west about the budget measures.
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00:00Let me give you an economic outlook picture illustrated in fruit and veg here, because
00:08we're seeing with customers more of this and fewer of these.
00:12But to explain exactly what is happening and how people are feeling about their own budgets,
00:17I'm joined by Viren Barrow, who is the owner of Vicfield's Fresh Fruit and Veg here, which
00:23is about 12km west of the CBD, isn't it, Viren?
00:27This is a bit of a traditional sort of working class area.
00:31What are some of the customers saying to you about how they're feeling?
00:33It's main thing important for them is filling their stomach, because they're struggling
00:37to meet the two ends.
00:39It's more they work, less they get it in the hand, kind of that.
00:43That's main important thing.
00:44So for them, veggies and everything, they're putting everything, the fruits and everything
00:49on the side, taking more veggies and that.
00:52So if we're talking about that just here, you're talking about like sort of some of
00:55the filling veggies, aren't you, that they're really going for?
00:59Cauliflower, broccoli, kind of the potatoes, they're going more, they're going less for
01:02the watermelons, strawberries, they're cutting down on those things.
01:06So most important for them is to fill the stomach.
01:09And what about the size of their shop?
01:12Size of the shop, it's, they're cutting down on the shopping list.
01:17Before they were buying one kilo, now they're going for 800 grams.
01:20They're buying two pieces of these, they're going for one piece of that.
01:23So that's important thing for them.
01:25So trying to stretch it, now, I came to you, I think about three years ago, after the federal
01:30budget then, and that was at a time when we saw inflation a lot higher, it thankfully
01:35has come down.
01:36So has there been a big change that you've seen?
01:40Big change hasn't come.
01:41The main reason is that because they need to cut down on some sort of housing, because
01:46that's the main spender for everybody.
01:48They need to cut down on fuel prices and everything, then it will affect the normal person.
01:54Still the housing, that's the real difficulty.
01:57That's the most important thing, because your and my incomes most, biggest part is goes
02:01towards your housing, start on that.
02:04That's the only thing.
02:05Yeah, okay.
02:06And just in terms of business conditions, for you, if your customers are spending less,
02:10how's all of this impacting on you as a business owner?
02:13It's a viscous circle.
02:14So they spend less, we get less, we spend less, and it goes less to the farmers, less
02:21in the society, less towards the circle of the finance.
02:24Are you seeing more people coming in here though, because they're trying to find that
02:28bargain from some of the bigger supermarkets?
02:31Supermarkets are nearly twice or three times more costlier than us.
02:35And we are more cheaper as well as, more fresher as well as, we buy on a daily basis, so they're
02:41coming more towards us because they're looking for the cheaper bargains and everything.