Tag: election

Food banks are broken, just like the rest of system they are in

So, I’ve been sharing this article “Shopping at Australian food charities can be more expensive than supermarkets. What’s gone wrong?” because I’m the foodbank user quoted and because the whole system is broken when charities on the ground are struggling to afford to buy food from mega charities to continue their essential work on the ground.

Regulars here know the story – I shop around foodbanks and Aldi and occasionally the majors since I have all three in my major town centre, in order to get the best value for myself and my little family that looks different each time I take stock. I haven’t gotten back to doing that this year – the food charities are reopening this week after Xmas shutdown, and I don’t have access to a car all the time since one is off the road at the moment. So I’m shopping at Aldi (or my partner is) and we’re getting our meal boxes and I’m sure it’s better for my waistline to not be able to get more food for less, but ugh I’m bored lol. Also, my stepson’s summer job just ended so he’s eating more at home and earning less until the Centrelink systems are reliable enough to reapply for jobseeker or he can find another casual job around the place.

Foodbank branches in NSW and Victoria operate under different rules: in NSW, charities who buy from Foodbank can charge their customers, while in Victoria charities must give the food away. The money Foodbank charges charities covers its handling fees – the cost of sourcing and redistributing the food. A Victorian-based charity worker, who did not want to be named, said that Foodbank had raised its prices to the point where the charity she works at was struggling to stay open. Screenshots taken last month from Foodbank’s online pantry, seen by Guardian Australia, show some items were significantly more expensive compared with major supermarkets. Composite image of dishwashing liquid prices on websites View image in fullscreen Some products are cheaper at major supermarkets, in this case dishwashing liquid at Woolworths. Composite: Woolworths website/Foodbank website Charities could buy dry dog food from Foodbank for $2.08 per 100g, compared with $0.23 per 100g at Coles. Dishwashing liquid was $1.15 for 495ml at Foodbank while shoppers could buy a litre for under $1.50 at all three majors. The charity worker says Foodbank prices have spiked in the last two years. In 2022, she says a dozen 450g cans of tinned ham cost $3.02 but last month was $64.30. In 2022, a dozen 400g Christmas puddings cost $5.40 but was now $43.80.

I knew that charities on the ground were facing increased costs for their purchases from Foodbank, but I didn’t realise it had gone up so much.

But I don’t see the answer as giving more money to Foodbank itself. They have corporate and individual donors, they have government funding, volunteer labour and other in-kind support, and yet they still have to charge more to the charities on the ground to receive the food and other items.

She stresses Foodbank provides a vital service, that they do good work and are underfunded. But the system is broken, she says. “The point is, they should be well funded so they don’t have to sell food, right? And we should be well funded so we don’t have to sell food.” The federal assistant minister for charities, Andrew Leigh, says “Labor strongly supports the value of food relief”. “Over the past 12 months, we have announced nearly $20m in additional funding for emergency and food relief charities,” Leigh said in a statement.

I also find myself even more cranky at the local charities that on-sell the items with significant markups (to just under full major supermarket prices) to fund their other work. Whether that’s to fund their free food hampers to those even more in need than the regular foodbank shopper, to pay their rent of warehouses, or to go into their missionary coffers (yes it happens), if there’s such a shortage of food coming into Foodbank warehouses as donations or being purchased it shouldn’t be marked up. Selling it on at your cost when it’s an essential item should be expected. (I’ll pay a markup on my short-dated Lindt though, happy to help when I’m able).

I’ll come back to it again – people need enough money to survive. They need to be able to afford to buy the food and other essential items they need to survive. Welfare rates need to be above the poverty line. People need to be able to afford to buy groceries and afford healthcare. There’s a lot that candidates can take into the election this year, and I want to see more of them promising to do the easy thing to lift millions out of poverty – Raising the rate of all welfare payments above the poverty line. That will cut demand greatly for emergency hampers that charities hand out each week. That will enable people to be able to directly support their own families and friends in need.

There is a place for emergency help – but having large corporate charity machines is not lessening the need for it.

 

Raise the Rate for Good – Poverty is a Political Choice #RaiseTheRateforGood

Banner for the National Day of Action
Raise the rate for good National day of Action Wed 27 April 2022

So, as I’m typing this, I’m overly full of ice creams because  I was just on the phone to Centrelink trying to sort out the last of the financial paperwork they need for my DSP application. I’d sent through my partner’s tax return SUMMARY, but they needed the full thing, and then I spent time trying to screenshot it off the ato site because that seemed to be the easiest way? Ugh, who knows? She’ll get back to me if she needs more. It’s been a process, hasn’t it? From applying in September, to the December rejection, to getting the medical approval last month and now getting all the financial information together to prove that my partner shouldn’t be supporting me.

Abolish the partner income test, mmmkay?

But first what we’re here to do is raise our voices together and call for a raise of the JobSeeker payment and all other payments to ensure recipients are not struggling below the poverty line.

my jobseeker payment

I’m currently, as I type this, still on JobSeeker, which as the partner rate is a grand total of $42.59 a day. $52.40 a day including rent assistance. So that’s less than the $46 a day bandied around, because they anticipate you need less money if you’re in a couple, and while yeah, there’s some shared expenses, I really don’t think it’s justified to halve the pharmaceutical allowance since I have a partner. We can’t share meds, you know? $3.10 a fortnight is laughable when you see my pharmacy bills each month.

chemist bill

Hilarious.

When (I say when) I get converted over the DSP, I’ve calculated I’ll be getting $53 a day. I assume I’ll be getting the same rent assistance, so it’ll be $63 including rent assistance. Score.

I use sarcasm as a defence mechanism.

The amount it should be raise to is up for discussion, but many agree that the $88 a day rate that puts the payment at the Henderson Poverty Line would be a great point. I know the Greens are promising this, however Labor has disappointed all by saying they have no plans to raise the rate of JobSeeker, and no plans yet to even review it, citing the “raise” given by the LNP when they took away the Covid supplement as seemingly enough by their standards.

poverty line chart vs jobseeker payment

 

I’ve been on JobSeeker with no obligations to look for jobs for a couple of years now. Cantrelink have acknowledged repeatedly that I’m not well enough to look for or maintain employment  but there is not financial acknowledgement of that for so many. I’m finally getting DSP, but it was a fight. I could easily have taken the rejection in December and been on rolling medical certificates once more.

The rate of welfare payments needs to be liveable across the board, as the barriers to work are real for so many, and even once people DO get work, they’re still technically below the poverty line at the point they earn too much to receive JobSeeker. How shit is that?

Also, as I’m confirmed not to be able to supplement my income with work, then the argument that the payment is low as an incentive to work is more than ridiculous. And does not wash at all for how low the Disability Support Pension is with the rate of inflation and cost of living pressures ballooning in recent years. Once I get DSP my payment will be finally more than the total rent my partner and I pay, so there’s that?

Raise the rate. Of all payments. Stop giving us excuses as to why people should suffer and struggle to meet their basic needs. Stop making us beg, because people are over begging and might need to take a bit more direct action.