Australians living in poverty are fighting a daily "war of survival" as they struggle to afford basic necessities.
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Karen, a woman experiencing hardship, made a passionate plea to meet with Prime Minister Anthony Albanese while giving evidence at a parliamentary inquiry examining the extent of poverty in Australia.
"We don't have war on our doorsteps, but we are experiencing a different type of war, a war of survival," she told the hearing on Tuesday.
"Is this what the lucky country has come to? Stealing the basic food necessities because of the ridiculously high prices."
Salvation Army general manager Jennifer Kirkaldy said failures in the welfare and housing systems were leading people to live in hardship.
The average person the charity worked with had $39 a week left after necessities such as housing, transport, groceries and utilities were covered.
"The extent and nature of poverty in Australia, as the Salvation Army sees it every day, is that it is very real, it is widespread, and it is devastating," Ms Kirkaldy said.
She said any rise in welfare payments was being swallowed up by soaring inflation and cost of living pressures.
Dawn, a woman with lived experience of homelessness, broke down in tears while giving evidence as she described the daily struggle of being unable to afford the basics.
"The food found in the fridge of an average Australian household will be considered luxury items to those of us on JobSeeker," she said.
She said people on welfare led a "smaller life" than the one they imagined they would live.
Ms Kirkaldy said Australia lacked effective data on how much poverty was costing the economy every year.
She said buy now, pay later services and access to safe credit were important, but were increasingly used to pay for necessities.
Lifeline Australia chief research officer Anna Brooks said the suicide prevention support service was experiencing an increase in people reaching out due to financial distress at levels "not seen before".
She said an increase in welfare payments helped, but if it wasn't a substantial change, it wouldn't change the distress people were feeling.
Brotherhood of St Laurence chief executive Travers McLeod said the "natural next step" was to have legislated measures on poverty reduction and economic inclusion.
"We have a choice about how ambitious Australia wants to be," he said.
"How ambitious people in this place (Parliament House) want to be in preventing and eliminating poverty in this country."
Dr McLeod said legislated measures and adequate social security payments must sit alongside other structural approaches to reduce poverty, including job security and significant investment in social housing.
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beyondblue 1300 22 4636
Australian Associated Press
