On the ground, people are eating out more, but they are not buying things to keep. Clothing, shoe and department stores are doing it particularly tough, with falls of up to 0.9 per cent. That was offset by a 1.3 per cent boost for cafes, restaurants and take-aways.

Loading

Victorian's did not buy much more in April than in March, with a slim rise of just 0.3 per cent, marginally below the 0.7 per cent increase in NSW.

The Commonwealth Games did nothing for Queensland's shops (0.1 per cent) - despite it being marketed as a boost for retailers, they beat only South Australia, where sales fell 0.6 per cent.

"With household finances still under pressure from low wage growth, rising petrol prices and a slowing housing market, we expect the annual rate of consumption growth to slow from about 3 per cent in the first quarter to around 2 per cent by the end of the year," Capital Economics economist Kate Hickie said.

The figures are likely to be latched on to by retailers who have spent the past week warning that the Fair Work Commission's decision to hand workers a pay rise of 3.5 per cent could send businesses under. The commission ordered an increase in the Retail Industry Award to $789.90 a week, or $20.79 an hour, for full-time and part-time employees and $25.98 an hour for casuals.

Unions, who argued for a pay rise of more than 7 per cent, say higher wages for employees will lead to more of them shopping, but the Australian Retailers Association said the "minimum wage increase is well above inflation [2 per cent], putting the brakes on employment and innovation throughout the industry".

Retailers claim pressure on the sector has been exacerbated by the growth in online shopping. After years of lobbying by Harvey Norman founder Gerry Harvey, the Turnbull government's 10 per cent GST on online shopping will come into force from July 1.

The tax has kicked off another round of tension between Mr Morrison and multinationals, which the Treasurer has been pursuing to help pay for $65 billion in company tax cuts.

On Friday, he warned Australian shoppers would abandon Amazon over its decision to block access to its international websites from July 1. Shoppers will be confined to the 60 million products available on the Australian website in order for the company to comply with the new GST provisions.

In good economic news for the government's federal budget projections, the quarterly business data released on Monday was broadly positive.

Inventories - or income from the sale of goods and services across the economy - roundly beat expectations, while company profits rose by 5.9 per cent, above forecasts of 3 per cent. ANZ job ads also reached a seven-year high.

"Taken at face value, this describes a more robust opening to 2018 than we envisaged - although we caution that this data is volatile," Westpac economist Andrew Hanlan said.

The market is predicting Wednesday's GDP figures could be better than the 2.8 per cent that has been previously forecast.