By Cam Lucadou-Wells
Crushed by the cost-of-living, more families are having to choose between “heating and eating” over winter, says the head of South East Community Links.
Peter McNamara, chief executive of SECL, says its emergency relief service had seen a 300 per cent rise in people needing help in the past two years.
In March-April 2020, 300 individuals and families sought aid. That’s risen to 900 in March-April 2022.
“It’s down to cost-of-living increases – food, energy, petrol, rents,” Mr McNamara says.
This was compounded by inadequate JobSeeker payments – just $46 a day, a lack of affordable housing and insecure work.
“We are seeing more and more Mums and Dads having to choose between ‘heating and eating’ over the winter period.”
Disability pensioner Sharon Harris is caught in that very dilemma.
To make ends meet, she had already stopped turning on heaters in her Dandenong home.
Now she has to make cuts to her basic food bill, her pain-relief medications as well as outings in her car.
She told of a couple of aged-pensioners shocked by their latest electricity bill. They were now looking at cutting their pay TV service – their main source of entertainment.
“The basic necessities are now a luxury”, she says.
“How are you supposed to survive?”
The State Government announced a $250 Power Saving Bonus payment to all Victorian households from 1 July.
It requires households to visit the Government’s Victorian Energy Compare free website and compare prices from energy retailers.
Details: compare.energy.vic.gov.au
