When it comes to new car prices, Australia continues to be a nation whose citizens are forced to pay much more than other similar countries. In fact, a very interesting report released by the Centre for Independent Studies has revealed that there are five items in Australia which are far too costly for the average Australian and ironically, it is the Government that is most responsible for this state of affairs.

The five items listed are bananas, housing, cars, books and retail. Since all of them are important in their own right and influence the quality of life, paying much more than the average for them in one of the better performing economies of the world would appear to be a travesty of justice to many.

It seems quite funny that Australians should be paying much more for bananas as compared to citizens in Germany, New Zealand, the UK or France and they do feel ripped off. The impact is a wide spread one given the fact that bananas are one of the top selling fruits in Australia.

Coming to new car prices, the thought is that there should be more of imports. The current situation does not allow for much import and to that extent, the Australian car market is a pretty protected one. In the absence of foreign competition, it is felt that local car manufacturers are having a field day and the consumer is also not helped by the fact that certain ‘taxes’ have only served to escalate new car prices in Australia further.

The recommendation is to follow New Zealand that imports many Japanese used cars and gets fantastic deals on them. One example of how much more an Australian pays for cars can be understood from the fact that he pays $360,000 for a Mercedes that is available for only $110,000.

Though this example is a bit too stretched, it is an undeniable truth that on most family cars, the Australians pay more than $5000 for the same vehicle as compared to their peers in other countries. This saving of $5000 by itself would mean a lot to a family, says the report.

The report acknowledges the impact of inflation and global commodity prices going up but feels that if some of the government policies can be made friendlier towards new car prices, the consumer would be benefitted and that would also push up demand.

The scenario on housing and retail is pretty similar, making Australia one of the most expensive countries in the world and unless there is a policy shift, Australians will continue to pay more and new car prices would continue to remain much more expensive, concludes the report.