Aussie families starving to pay power bill

WORKING families are choosing to “heat or eat’’, with sky-high power bills driving a 10 per cent jump in demand for food hand-outs from charities this year.

Big bills and unexpected expenses are the main reason people turn to charity for food, a new Foodbank hunger report reveals.

It shows that 3.6 million Australians are “food insecure’’ — meaning they cannot always afford to eat — as rising rents, big mortgages and surging power bills chew through family budgets.

Foodbank chief executive Brianna Casey said the “working poor’’ were struggling to pay power bills, which soared by an average of 20 per cent in June.

“We are talking about everyday Australians — mums and dads, retirees, the elderly, students and children,’’ she said.

“About half of them are unemployed but the largest demographic of people experiencing hunger are the working poor who are living from pay cheque to pay cheque.

“All it takes is one unexpected bill — we know that skyrocketing energy prices mean some people have to decide between heating or eating.

“We are seeing children going off to school with empty tummies.’’

The Foodbank survey of 1100 charities found that 56 per cent of people who went hungry blamed an “unexpected expense or large bill’’, while 38 per cent had spent all their money paying the rent or mortgage.

Ten per cent of people had become sick or injured and 10 per cent had lost their job.

Six per cent admitted they had spent money on cigarettes, alcohol or drugs and that they did not have enough left to buy food.