Canberra has the highest standard of living in Australia, says a
new report that shows cost of living pressures have less to do
with the ''politically sensitive'' prices of petrol, energy or
fruit and more to do with changing spending habits on services
such as childcare.  Canberra was the second most expensive city,
behind Sydney, among state and territory capital cities because
of similar housing costs, said the report by financial services
group AMP and the National Centre for Economic and Social
Modelling at the University of Canberra.  But higher wages, on
average, in Canberra placed it No. 1 in the country for standard
of living, said the ''Prices These Days!'' report, which
examined how the cost of living has changed since 1984.  Despite
sharp rises in electricity, mortgages, rents and petrol, the
centre's principal research fellow Ben Phillips said the average
household in Australia was $224 a week better off than in the
mid-1980s, and even low-income households were ahead by $93 a
week.  High-income