Things could be worse. Down here, good quilting fabric costs $20 or more a metre (we have metrics down here), or if you want really nice fabric it's up to $25. Not sure who we have to thank for it, but that's the way it is. For example, on Thursday I paid $24 for four FQs at the Melbourne Quilt Show. We do have an equivalent of Joanne's, but nothing like as good or as large as in the US.
I imagine that will always be the case for us because most of our quilting fabrics come from the US to start with - unless they are from Asia, in which case they are sometimes not so flash and you wouldn't risk all your hard work with them.