Easter gifts give spirits a lift

SMALL things can mean a lot when times are hard.

Representatives from the Energizer Church were well received when they dropped off Easter eggs, hot cross buns and toiletries to those camping at the Hobart showground yesterday.

The Bellerive-based church will also send a bus to the showground tomorrow to pick up anyone wanting to attend its Easter service.

“There were some tears shed when we visited. The people out there are open and beautiful and it was nice to be able to do something small to brighten things for them,” church member Rachel Sushames said.

“We also took gifts to a woman and her teenage daughter who were recently lucky enough to move into a house after camping out.”

Among those the church spoke to were a woman and her daughter who were made homeless after a fire.

There were also two parents with six children at the show- ground, a single dad with five children, a father with three teenage sons, a single pregnant woman, two couples, two single men and two single women.

“I understand more people will be heading out to the showgrounds after being told to move on from where they were camping out at Sandy Bay beach,” Ms Sushames said.

The church’s visit comes after figures released on Thursday showed priority public housing applicants were waiting almost 50 per cent longer for a home than a year ago.

Applications to the housing register increased by 245 be- tween September and December, taking the list to 3512 Tasmanians.

Labor MP Josh Willie said: “These are shocking figures and the Government has no intention or plan to address them — [Housing Minister] Roger Jaensch has provided no tangible or workable solution and he is so out of touch he has not even bothered to visit the Hobart showgrounds where families are living in tents.”

Mr Jaensch has not visited the tent city at the showground and has no plans to do so, despite an open invitation from Royal Agricultural Society of Tasmania boss, Scott Gadd.