poverty Archives - Glycerine Queen Media

How can this happen in Australia in 2024?

According to the ABC, 1.3 million Australian children live with food insecurity. Going to school hungry is detrimental to a child’s learning. Fortunately, one school is combatting this.

Alexandra Hills State School, Queensland teamed up with not – for – profit, Eat Up to provide students with a free lunch.

Principal, Scott Ward explained the program as:

[It’s] really a vehicle for the kids to know that we care and that our community cares about them, no matter what, whether they can afford food or they can’t.

(‘Children experiencing food insecurity can face challenges at school. Some groups and principals are changing that’. Stephanie Felsina, ABC News, 9 September 2024)

The school is incredibly humble and wants their students to ask for food without shame:

I think the most important thing for us is we don’t make a big deal of it, because we want our kids to know that they can come to a staff member without shame.

Food insecurity leads to absenteeism

A few months ago, ABC’s Four Corners raised alarm about children being too anxious to go to school.

Living with food insecurity is a common reason for children not attending school.

In 2018, Foodbank revealed that one in three parents lived with food insecurity. When parents struggle with finances, essentials are sacrificed. It’s food vs rent. Or electricity bill vs school expenses.

Heartbreakingly, children who live in poverty face bullying when they do go to school. Parents also told Foodbank they realised mood and behavioural changes in their children due to hunger.

Conversely, founder of Eat Up, Lyndon Galea has seen an increase of attendance since partnering with Alexandra Hill School.

Schools also reached out to other charities, such as Y (formerly YMCA), to help provide food for students. Like Mr. Ward, Y aims to destigmatise children reaching out when in need.

Touching stories exposes national shame

Alexandra High Schol and charities should be commended for providing food to hungry children. However, it exposes a national shame.

The media in Australia is flooded with reports of the cost of living crisis. There have also been reports of major supermarkets, most infamously, Woolworths, being condemned for falsely advertising ‘specials’. Social media users exposed the supermarket giant for price gouging and exploiting the cost of living crisis.

The Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC), has launched legal action against Woolworths and Coles, accusing them of raising prices and falsely promoting them as specials.

It’s disgusting how supermarket giants, power companies and, ultimately the Australian Government has created this situation. It’s disgusting that children don’t have the means to have their basic needs met. We’re not talking about a twelve – year – old wanting the latest PlayStation, PARENTS CAN’T AFFORD TO FEED THEIR CHILDREN! It’s such an outrage with plenty of blame to go around.

So, what can be done? Until the Government gets its act together, maybe you can support an Australian charity. The Smith Family directly helps children in poverty attend school.

The ABC and SBS are often criticised for bias. There have also been new calls for the two Australian government – owned broadcasters to be merged or sold and be pushed into the commercial media landscape.

I do agree that bias is a bit much on the ABC. I used to see it quite often when I used to watch Q and A regularly. And, yes, the SBS has controversial shows on it. Sometimes, presenters aren’t as respectful as what they could be.

One thing both the ABC and SBS have going for them is that often, they give a voice to those that the commercial mainstream media (and governments) often ignore.

The real face of a ‘dole bludger’

Tara Schultz is on Newstart. She is thirty – one. By her own admission, has never held down full- time work.

Reading that alone may give you an impression that Schultz is a bum. But, if you read the rest of The Feed’s article, you’ll quickly realise that her story is much more complicated.

Schultz’s short life so far has been marred by sexual abuse, poverty, terminal illness, death and mental illness in the family. She cared for her father to the end of his battle with lung cancer. After her father’s death, Schultz looked after his widow, who suffers agoraphobia and post – traumatic stress disorder. She then moved to look after her mother who suffers fromschizophrenia. Her step – mother no longer had a carer due to government funding cuts.

When talking about elections, Schultz said her family finds voting “utterly laughable”.

I won’t go through the whole article. Read through it yourself. It’s heartbreaking.

Indictment of society and Australia’s political system

The article really reflects how broken our political system is. Quite frankly, it’s also a reflection of how broken our society is.

Poverty wasn’t mentioned during the election. The main focus was (as is often the case), on the upper and middle -class.

This election was also about culture wars. The media, especially Newscorp did the Israel Folau’s sacking to death. This became part of a very messy political campaign. It’s ironic that Christianity and religious freedom became hot button issues, yet, the poor were left out of the debate. The Bible contains hundreds of verses advocating for them.

What should be done?

Poverty is complicated, so I won’t be able to provide an adequate answer in one post. Obviously, Newstart should be increased so it can be lived on.

The way the government fails to help the severely mentally ill is appalling. It is a disgrace that Schultz’s mother lost her carer due to funding cuts.

I passionately believe that those with chronic mental illnesses should be able to access the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS). If not, there needs to be an equivalent for mental illness sufferers.

The article also shows that welfare isn’t something that should be sneered at. The caricatures of what a welfare recipient looks like is obviously not the reality. There are people and families that need it as a means to survive.

A question to Prime Minister Scott Morrison: what will you do about it? Or should I say: What would Jesus do? (Hint: He wouldn’t give himself an A$11,000 pay rise while allowing penalty rates to be slashed for lower income workers).