October 2022 Federal Budget

Tonight’s Federal Budget must address the surging cost-of-living, which is making it impossible for a growing number of Australians to pay for life's essentials—a safe and affordable home, food, utilities and medical care.

St Vincent de Paul Society National President Claire Victory said charities are experiencing a sharp increase in demand as more and more Australians slip into poverty.

‘The charity sector is witnessing a spike in demand as Australians already struggling to cope with the surging cost-of-living, are asked to pay the price for successive governments' neglect of the crumbling foundations of a fair Australia,’ Ms Victory said.

‘This has been compounded over recent years by the cumulative impact of the COVID pandemic and natural disasters that have pushed Australians to their limits and exposed how far as a nation we have drifted from the promise of a “fair go”.

‘Our team in NSW, for example, has spent $8.3 million in the last financial year helping stretched and struggling Australians, 26 per cent of whom were accessing assistance for the first time.

‘Almost all needed help with food and more than half with housing. The picture is the same across the country, where more and more Australians are struggling to survive,’ Ms Victory said.

The spike in demand coincides with two factors that are undermining the charity sector's capacity to respond to the growing needs of vulnerable Australians.

Firstly, volunteering has been challenged by COVID, which left people unable to leave their homes and with understandable concerns about moving about in the community. Secondly, more and more Australians are finding it tough to survive and so have less to spare with which to support others.

‘Simply put, when the Treasurer stands up to deliver tonight’s Federal Budget, community resources and resilience are spent,’ Ms Victory said.

‘That is why is it critical that the Government provides immediate support for vulnerable Australians who cannot live on the promise of help in the future when times are better: the wellbeing of vulnerable Australians can’t wait,’ Ms Victory said.

There are three critical areas of immediate need: income support, housing, and emergency support for people seeking asylum.

The current JobSeeker rate condemns around 830,000 Australians to live $150 below the poverty line each fortnight. This is simply unacceptable in Australia. Programmed CPI increases do very little to improve the position of people in need - these increases only reflect the fact that inflation is soaring and do nothing to address the abysmally low base rates for these payments.

‘Working age payments have not kept up with the cost of living and Australians’ unemployment payment rates are among the lowest out of 37 members of the OECD. This situation is getting worse every day the Government fails to act, as inflation, interest rates and the cost-of-living surges higher.