Key Points
- Foodbank said heartbreaking stories about Australians being unable to afford food are becoming more common.
- It said the rising cost of living is the main driver behind people struggling to put food on the table.
- Low income is another factor, with workers making up more than half of those needing food relief.
As millions of people across Australia struggle to make ends meet, one story shared on radio has highlighted just how dire has become.
"A mum who I saw last week was collecting some food off our mobile supermarket bus said, 'how long can I eat this yoghurt after it's expired?'," Matt Tilley from hunger relief charity Foodbank Australia told ABC Radio Melbourne on Friday.
"I said, 'I wouldn't risk it, why?' and she said, 'I'm hoping to keep it for Christmas Day'.
"That was going to be her treat for her kids on Christmas Day, some yoghurt."
Journalist Amy Remeikis was brought to tears when discussing the story on ABC television's Insiders on Sunday.
"We talk about inflation and cost of living on a political stage … but this is actually really impacting people," she said.
"The fact that we have kids who are going to get expired yogurt as a treat on Christmas in one of the richest countries in the world is an abomination, and we really, really need to address this."
Sadly "heartbreaking" stories like that are becoming more and more common, Foodbank CEO Brianna Casey told SBS News.
"I wish I could say that story was an isolated case, but unfortunately we hear stories like that each and every day," she said.
"We're hearing about people who are buying prepared meals on Afterpay because they can't afford fresh fruits and vegetables and they can't afford ingredients; we're hearing about pensioners who have reduced their diets down to one or two at most meals per day because they can't make the pension stretch far enough to cover their accommodation needs as well as their food needs; we're hearing about fathers who are being very creative in the way that they are telling their children that they're not hungry and don't need to eat that night when simply there isn't enough food for them to provide for their family."
A report released by Foodbank last month found .
Ms Casey said the charity is providing food relief to about a million people across the country each month.
"I think a lot of people will have seen those heartbreaking scenes at the height of COVID of people queuing around the block to access food banks," she said.
"The demand in many parts of Australia right now is higher than it was during that period."
The rising cost of living is the most common reason why people in Australia are struggling to put food on the table, Ms Casey said.
"When we look within that, it is around the high cost of food and groceries, it's around the high cost of energy - so that's inclusive of gas, electricity and fuel, if people are fortunate enough to have a private vehicle - and then it's around housing affordability and availability," she said.
The other main reason is low income.
"Fifty-four per cent of households who are food insecure are employed. So more than half have got a job, they're earning an income, but unfortunately, their wages aren't enough to keep up with those other increases," Ms Casey said.
"It is a really precarious balancing act, and unfortunately, when you have a finite low income, and you take off all of those other costs, food is the one thing that people are having to drop completely out of the budget."
Rising inflation is partly what’s driving up the cost of food, with the annual rate increasing to 7.3 per cent in the September quarter.
The damage caused to crops by floods and other weather events is also contributing to the price rise.
The cost of fruit was up 6.6 per cent in the September quarter, while vegetable prices rose 2.9 per cent.
With inflation predicted to peak at 7.75 per cent later this year, before moderating over time to 3.5 per cent through 2023-24, and real wages expected to remain stagnant until 2024, Ms Casey said many people’s financial situation is likely to worsen.
"When we look at the types of people who are in need of food relief, in the past, there might have been an assumption that they're homeless people living on the streets - now, it's people living in your street, and that's the fundamental difference," she said.
"We need to make sure that there is very real and tangible support made available in response to this cost of living crisis."
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