Salvation Army says cost of living forces families to make trade-offs this Christmas

ABC NEWS (Australia)

The Salvation Army says the cost-of-living crisis is forcing many families to make painful trade-offs as Christmas approaches. The charity's latest research reveals many households are deciding between essentials and celebrations.

Transcript

00:00The research that the Salvation Army conducted was extensive and national and basically what

00:08we found was 1.1 million Australians are effectively cancelling Christmas this year because they're

00:13saying we don't want to have the conversation with our family about how tough things are so

00:17we're just not going to talk about Christmas and so it's off the table and we're seeing an

00:21increasing number of families right across the nation now that are having to make decisions

00:25about whether they pay rent, medical bills, utilities or food and so Christmas is one

00:31of those first things that falls off the table and it's tragic for so many people right across

00:35the nation now.

00:37So you surveyed around 2,000 people and then projected that that would be around a million

00:43Australians.

00:45Is the situation much worse do you see it than past years and if so what's contributed?

00:52It's definitely becoming worse Joe and Fauzia I think what we're seeing is new faces turning

00:57up to our services right across the nation and they're often young mums with children

01:02and they've got a partner that's working trying to make ends meet and they simply can't and

01:07I think when people have to make decisions about what they pay and what they don't pay you start

01:11to see that the pressure on people is incredibly difficult and I think the cost of living pressures

01:16are biting extremely hard now and we often have conducted this research previously and what

01:22we've found is certain groups of people are impacted by cost of living pressures.

01:27What we're seeing now is it's impacting the general community 49% of people interviewed

01:32actually found that they won't be able to afford Christmas this year.

01:36So that's really difficult and it's starting to say very clearly that cost of living pressures

01:42are a very significant that's top of mind for so many Australians now.

01:45And that means that there'd be many people this year who are seeking help from charities

01:50for the first time in their lives and perhaps doing things that they never thought that they

01:54would do by seeking that help.

01:56Well we're expecting about 1.7 million people to approach charities this Christmas for support

02:02and at least half of that number will be first time presentations.

02:06And what we want to do is just say to Australians now if you're struggling or if you know somebody

02:12that is reach out to the Salvation Army or organisations like ours because we're here for you and don't

02:17be embarrassed or ashamed if you need support to get through this Christmas come to us or similar

02:22charities because we want to support you.

02:24Obviously the Salvos provide help what is the other assistance that people can seek out and are charities

02:30like yours keeping up with the demands that we're seeing?

02:34Well last Christmas we actually saw 350,000 people Joe that came for toys and we saw about 177,000

02:42people need meals and we saw 89,000 members of families need accommodation during the Christmas period

02:50and we're already seeing that the indicators are saying that the numbers will be higher again this year.

02:56So I think it's not just about toys, it's not just about meals but it's also about accommodation

03:02because really this time of the year is incredibly difficult when it comes to family violence

03:07and we're seeing more families impacted by that issue particularly around Christmas time

03:12and we're also seeing people just struggling to make ends meet.

03:15Twenty percent of those people that we interviewed indicated that they won't be seeking medical treatment

03:20for themselves or their children because they simply can't afford it.

03:24So are charities struggling to keep up then?

03:27Joe absolutely, so we're stretched and that's why we're running this appeal at the moment where

03:32we need to raise about $29 million because we just want to make sure that no one is turned away.

03:37So we're feeling the pinch, other charities are certainly feeling the pinch as well

03:42but if Australians can help in some way by even donating something small it would be deeply appreciated.

03:48Brendan just finally we often hear these sort of figures and forget that there are real people

03:54behind these numbers as well. What do you hear when you speak to these people that you're involved with and that you're helping?

04:02Well it's really interesting Jo, I think one of the messages that is really appreciated by people

04:09is obviously not just the gift or the meal or the accommodation

04:12but the people that we're helping more often than not actually acknowledge that there's someone

04:17somewhere out there that has remembered them and I think that fact that they're not forgotten

04:23and someone is standing by their side even if they're invisible is profoundly important for people

04:29and it's the one thing that often gets them through a difficult situation.

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