At a time when our leaders are tying themselves up in knots over who is entitled to sit in the parliament and how the same sex marriage debate should be resolved, millions are worried sick about how to pay for health care, electricity and next week's groceries.

Concerns over the cost of housing, fuel, gas, insurance and basic services such as water aren't far behind.

The regular Choice survey, which noted wages and salary growth had been "very flat" for a long time now, indicated cost of living pressures and mortgage stress were the biggest concerns facing most Australians.

This is not surprising given only as recently as June members of the Reserve Bank Board expressed a similar view with the governor, Phil Lowe, talking about "a crisis of low pay". He blamed this on economic uncertainty and the threat of competition from robots and foreign workers.

"When any of us feel like there is more competition out there you're less inclined to put the price up," he said. "People value security and one way you can get a bit more security is not to demand a wage rise."

One unintended consequence has been that as household incomes stagnate while the costs of living, particularly those linked to energy and housing, keep shooting for the moon it becomes harder to balance the family budget.

Even in Canberra, arguably the most affluent jurisdiction in the country, belts have had to be tightened.

The pressure has come from two directions. On the one hand many Federal Government departments have been unable or unwilling to sign off on long overdue wage increases for their public servants and, on the other, the Territory Government and its associated agencies have levied dramatic increases in the charges land, rates, electricity and other services.

Then, of course, there are those Canberrans working in retail, as taxi drivers, in hospitality and the like who do not have the benefit of a guaranteed $70k a year plus public service wage.

Living, as they do, in an wealthy city where the basics cost way more than in, say, a reasonably sized regional centre, these workers have always done it tough.

More and more people are starting to ask "why does it have to be this hard?" with Cassandra Goldie, the chief executive of the Australian Council of Social Service, saying: "there is an increasing number of people who just can't make ends meet".

Our politicians would be well advised to take note of the growing wave of voter disenchantment overseas that led to Brexit and the 2016 U.S. Presidential election result. Those struggling to gain traction in the opinion polls might do well to compare their current focus to the issues raised by Choice as the ones really important to communities across the country.