Disability pensioner Toni Ottens and her husband Rodney have made thousands of home cooked meals for people in need over the years.
But Ms Ottens said she had noticed a lot more families were running out of food.
“There’s a lot of times I will go to places and the shelves are just empty – there’s nothing there,” she said.
The Adelaide woman said she had also recently struggled to cook the same amount of food for others as she had in the past.
“We don’t have tonnes of money … sometimes I can’t make the food up as much as I’d like,” she said.
“I make do with what I’ve got.”
She has cooked meals for many of her foster children and Puddle Jumpers, an organisation that supports vulnerable young people.
The pensioner said she aimed to cook nutritious meals by sourcing ingredients from various supermarkets during half price sales.
Ms Ottens worries that, without her contributions, some recipients could be missing out on nutrients they need.
Her experience with vulnerable families paints a realistic picture of the latest Foodbank report which surveyed more than 4000 Australians online.
Millions endure ‘severe’ food insecurity
The Foodbank Hunger Report 2024 found 3.4 million households across Australia were experiencing food insecurity and, of those, two million households were experiencing “severe” food insecurity.
This means they skipped meals or ate less because they could not afford enough food.
The report found 97 per cent of households experiencing severe food insecurity worried that food would run out before they had enough money to buy more.
This figure was “significantly higher” than the 94 per cent of households in the same position in 2022.
The report also found 79 per cent of the households which experienced severe food insecurity actually ran out of food and did not have enough money to purchase more.
The report was based on the survey answers provided by Australians of different ages and genders, and in various locations throughout Australia.
Last year the food relief organisation found “more than the total number of households in Melbourne and Sydney combined” were experiencing “concerning levels of food insecurity”.
Troubling statistic for low-income earners
The latest report also found the overall rate of food security had improved slightly in the past year, but identified a disturbing “two-speed recovery” trend.
The trend means outcomes were improving for high and middle-income earners, while becoming worse for those earning less than $30,000 a year.
Foodbank chief executive officer Breanna Casey said the report found 48 per cent of those low-income households were now experiencing food insecurity.
“The really troubling statistic for me — this is up 5 per cent up on last year and it’s actually the highest rate of food insecurity in low-income households since the cost-of-living crisis commenced,” Ms Casey said.
“They are making compromises on what they’re eating, when they’re eating or if they’re eating at all.
“We know that when it comes to economic shocks and natural disasters, low-income households suffer first, worst and for the longest and that is exactly what is happening here.”
The report also found that almost half of those households experiencing severe food insecurity had reduced their spending on fresh produce and protein.
Ms Casey said 82 per cent of respondents identified the rising cost of food and housing as the main contributors to food insecurity.
“It’s not hard to understand why food inflation is having the impact it is on low-income households when such a high proportion of those everyday costs are now having to go towards those basic essentials,” she said.
Support payments to ease pressure
Australian National University economic and social researcher Ben Phillips said increasing JobSeeker unemployment payments could help ease food budget pressures for many on low incomes.
“Increasing that payment which goes to the lowest income Australians and those most likely to be in poverty and financial stress – that would help a lot of people,” he said.
He said an increase in the JobSeeker payment had been needed for the past 20 years.
“It’s a relatively modest increase that’s needed – even though it impacts about a million people in Australia,” Mr Phillips said.
Minister for Social Services Amanda Rishworth said the base rate for JobSeeker payments had increased by $135 per fortnight since the 2022 federal election.
“We know Australians are struggling with cost of living – that’s why since coming to government, we have made significant investments to increase the support available through our social security safety net, along with other measures,” she said.
“Our government has invested an additional $11.5 billion in the social security system through the 2024-25 and 2023-24 Budgets.”
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