More than one-third of Australians experienced “moderate” to “severe” food insecurity in the last twelve months, according to a new study.
The 2023 Foodbank Hunger report reveals that 3.7 million households, an increase of more than 380,000 households from last year, struggle to consistently access adequate food.
Nearly 1.5 million households were categorised as moderately food insecure, meaning that they felt anxious about food or have compromised their meals. The other 2.3 million reported being severely food insecure, meaning that they have skipped meals or have gone days without eating.
Seventy-seven percent of people who experienced food insecurity did so for the first time, with unprecedented attacks on working-class living standards adding pressure to existing struggles.
The report found that, among those facing food insecurity, the increased cost of living was the key contributor. This included rising prices for food and groceries, followed by energy costs, increased rents and higher mortgage repayments. The people bearing the brunt of the crisis are increasingly younger, 81 percent of people who experienced food insecurity being under the age of 45.
More than half of all renters can’t afford to eat balanced meals. More than 80 percent of people impacted are employed, highlighting that having a job does not insulate people from hunger.
“I went hungry, which caused an insulin overdose, and had to be rushed to hospital. Luckily, I was able to get some food in the hospital”, related a young renter in Sydney.
Meanwhile, it was revealed last week that Defence Minister Richard Marles charged taxpayers for a $115 breakfast while in the United States recently, including $34 for two eggs and $20.44 for an orange juice.
It speaks volumes about the priorities of the federal Labor government.
In the latest outburst of national security hysteria, ASIO spy chief Mike Burgess declared, in a speech on 28 February, that an unnamed former Australian politician had betrayed our beloved country by clandestinely working for an evil foreign spy network—which he called “the A-team”—to provide secret information to a rival power.
Measured by the sheer volume of stuff produced, capitalism is a very successful system. According to World Bank data, in 1960 global gross domestic product (GDP)—which measures the monetary value of goods and services sold—was just under US$1.4 trillion. By 2022 it had risen to $101 trillion. The world’s population has increased a lot in that time, but the volume of stuff produced has increased by far more.
As Israel’s latest brutal war against the people of Gaza drags on, the need to challenge the Zionist state and all those who facilitate its genocidal campaign couldn’t be clearer.
Banyule City Council has become the eighth metro council in the Melbourne area to formally call for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
In a monumental betrayal, Melbourne University’s Students’ Council last month voted to rescind a motion supporting the Palestinian struggle for self-determination and the global Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions movement.
The year is 2070. A global catastrophe—climate change, nuclear winter, civil war: pick your poison—recently ended civilisation and opened a new chapter in your life. So far you’ve ridden it out smoothly in your luxury bunker, but one day you’re swimming laps in the pool, living out your Bond-villain dream, when an alert blinks on your home security console.