Hundreds of Australians say they skip meals, visit food banks and 'dumpster dive' as the cost of living crisis continues
ABC News
March 5 2024
Hundreds of Australians have told a cost of living inquiry they are struggling to afford basic necessities, at times going without food to make sure their loved ones can eat.
A mother skips meals to make sure her son can eat dinner.
Later in the week she will join a line of people accessing a food bank for the first time in their lives.
Others get through the day on little more than coffee or a bread roll, going hungry to pay rent, electricity bills or buy their pets food.
A Senate committee, which launched an inquiry into the cost of living, has asked Australians to share their experiences and they have responded — more than 900 by the latest count.
They are struggling to afford the basics, at times going without food to make sure their loved ones can eat.
Some provide their names. Others are anonymous. But their responses paint a picture of a food insecurity problem experts say is "on the rise" across Australia.
'You have no idea how humiliating this was'
Salvation Army mission leader Lauren Martin says staff are seeing many people visit support services for the first time.
"They're embarrassed, they're like, 'Should I be here, other people have it worse than me,'" she says.
"There's no buffer anymore. As things are getting more and more expensive, people have run out ... so they are literally living pay cheque to pay cheque.
"I think for a lot of Australians who are in that middle- to high-income bracket, there's always somewhere we can get money from if we're running low.
"But for many ... it's super scary and stressful [that] for the first time, that's it. When your bank account says 27 cents, you've got 27 cents."
National food relief organisation Foodbank told the inquiry it had seen the root cause of food insecurity across Australia shift from sudden, unexpected expenses — or "bill shock" — to people struggling to afford "expected" everyday expenses.
Foodbank's chief executive Brianna Casey says the organisation is seeing a "quite significant shift" in the types of people seeking food relief.
"We know that those who are experiencing hunger for the first time are increasingly younger, young professionals in particular," she says. "They're employed, they're actually in the mid- to high-income bracket.
"There would be a lot of assumptions about the cost of living impacting those on the lowest incomes, and it categorically is ... but it is also impacting our professionals and it means we are having to find new and creative ways to provide [relief] because people simply cannot access it nine-to-five, Monday to Friday because they're working full time."
Some Foodbank workers are adapting to offer pop-up or drive-through stalls or extend their hours to extend support to more and more people.
Ms Casey says the level of food insecurity seen across Australia currently is unprecedented.
"When we look at things like natural disasters ... we experience this very significant spike in demand for relief during the crisis phase, and then there's a long and complex recovery phase," she says.
"The concern we have right now is the cost of living crisis is lasting such a long time in that crisis phase that we think recovery could actually take many, many years."
'I eat my son's left overs'
People across Australia are "being forced to ration food" to afford other essential items, according to the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS).
"Almost three-quarters of people receiving income support are eating less or skipping meals due to the low rate of payments and rising cost of living," the organisation said in September.
"The average Australian grocery bill is $160 a week, or $23 a day, while average unit rents are $510 per week, or $73 a day."
For many, says Ms Martin, common cost-cutting advice like buying groceries in bulk is just "out of the question".
"It's a great idea, it's an awesome idea to save money but, particularly for people on benefits ... it's actually a luxury," she says.
"You actually end up paying more per item when you are under severe financial hardship than people with money. That's a huge injustice.
"You're going to the supermarket 1-2 times per week because you can't afford to buy in bulk, so you're buying the smallest item [which] costs the most per unit price.
"There's all of these things associated with living in financial hardship that actually stack against people."
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