The cost-of-living crisis is eating into Victorian families’ ability to put food on the table, with more and more turning to charities to fill the gap.
Foodbank Victoria has recorded a 27 per cent rise in distribution this year, following a 21 per cent increase in 2022.
Demand for Victoria’s school breakfast program has also risen by 40 per cent in the past 12 months, with the charity providing 2.4 million extra meals across 1000 schools.
“I’ve been with Foodbank for 15 years through (the) millennium drought, Black Saturday, Black Summer, floods, the pandemic and this is the worst I’ve seen it in 15 years,” Foodbank chief executive David McNamara told reporters on Tuesday.
Mr McNamara said the crisis was attacking the middle class in particular, but demand was rising across the entire state, with some charities reporting a 300 per cent increase in families seeking assistance.
“There’s really not one part that’s not feeling this,” he said.
“We used to say it’s people on the street, it’s people in your street. Now it doesn’t matter where you are.
“What were the bastions of the middle class are now the suburbs that we’re seeing people turning up for assistance.”
Mr McNamara said he could not envision food demand plateauing soon as energy prices increase further and more homeowners come off fixed interest rates.
“Food inflation is still running higher than inflation itself,” he said.
“I don’t see it dropping for almost another year or so.”
