| In the shadow of the Sydney Opera House 200 sleeping bags were laid out on the ground this morning. They were placed there by Vinnies to represent the hundreds of people who sleep rough every night — a cruel reminder of the human toll of the cost-of-living crisis. But the real scale of the problem is far less visible. Of the hundreds of thousands of Australians Vinnies has helped in recent years, around a third are people who have never asked for help before. In other words ordinary working Australians who have been pushed to the limit by skyrocketing costs in housing, power and grocery bills. EXPLAINED: 7 things you need to know about Trump’s tariffs  Liberation Day by Warren Brown. Fate has dictated that Vinnies is launching its biggest fundraising campaign, the CEO Sleepout, in the first week of an election campaign in which cost of living is first, second and third priority. And it is a timely that while the headline figures for the economy may have turned a corner — inflation coming down, growth going up and an interest rate cut with more on the way — the impact of this is yet to be felt by many Australians who are still hard up against it. And then along comes Donald Trump, who has become the third candidate in this election campaign. CLICK HERE FOR JOE HILDEBRAND'S FULL ANALYSIS | 
