SOMETIMES, when you've always done it a bit tough, you get used to staring gift horses straight in the mouth.
And so it is in Sydney's south-western suburbs, where despite lower interest rates, petrol prices and government bonuses, the attitude one year after the collapse of Lehman Brothers remains cautious.
According to Trent Singleton, the co-owner of Bulk Automotive, a wholesaler of car parts to mechanics in the city's south and west, the family car is bearing the brunt of money-saving efforts, despite cheaper petrol prices.
''Cars are sort of the first thing that gets neglected when money's tight,'' Mr Singleton said, adding that his sales of car parts are up 20 per cent over the past year. ''We're seeing more sales where people are, through negligence, having to change things like water pumps through not getting their regular service. People are sort of looking at saving money in the short term but in the long term they're actually paying more. You'd be better to do it by regular services because your car runs better.''
The south-west has long been home to some of Sydney's lowest-income families and persistently highest jobless rates. Manufacturing is the region's biggest employer, and manufacturers are locked in a constant battle against cheaper Chinese imports and a volatile Australian dollar. Retailing is the second-biggest employer, and it is this casual workforce which has been most exposed over the past year to the growing problem of underemployment, as firms cut back on working hours.
Job losses in Sydney's finance sector have stolen the headlines, but manufacturing job losses in the south-west have also been numerous. The jobless rate in the Fairfield-Liverpool area almost doubled to 12 per cent in May, although it has since fallen to just under 10 per cent.
In Fairfield's central shopping district, the owner of Handy Deco Gallery, Monica Zhong, says sales at her wedding accessories and party products store are down 30 per cent from a year ago. ''I'm not really sure about the reason.''
Down the road at womens' clothes retailer Fashionelle, sales are holding steady. According to a sales assistant, customers who are pensioners or on welfare still talk about doing it tough. ''They don't really talk about the stimulus money so much … What they do talk about is how expensive everything is.''
According to the Fairfax-owned Australian Property Markets, the Canterbury-Bankstown area recorded the biggest percentage increase in its median house price in the past financial year - up 8 per cent to $443,000.
A real estate agent at Raine & Horne, Bankstown, Charlie Wakim, said that house prices in the under $500,000 category were indeed undergoing a ''mini-boom'' due to the first-home buyers grant boost, a tight rental market and lower interest rates.
So there are at least some people prepared to look away from the gift horse's mouth.
