We spend six months of the year in Aus' and six months in...

We spend six months of the year in Aus' and six months in Europe, and everytime we return we can't believe just how expensive everything has become, especially food which is now hideously dear, yet when we lived in Cairns years ago that was not the case.
I don't know what has happened over the last few years, perhaps one factor being the mining boom which has greatly lifted wages , and has in turn affected the cost of everything. And now lots of projects especially in the mining industry, and elsewhere have been halted, it's just to expensive to do business in Australia.
But it's the over regulation of everything that really annoys me, and it seems that a license is now required to do even the most menial of jobs. In Queensland for example , ( and maybe also even in other states ) a license or certificate is required to control traffic at road works, they call themselves 'Traffic control officers', yes the blokes who stand there with the stop/ go sign, and a whole new industry has sprung up, thus putting up costs of road repairs. My friends in Europe have a great laugh when I tell them.
Rant over!