Federal election 2025: The Advertiser People’s Cabinet reveals school feeding hungry parents
New mums are watering down infant formula and schools are feeding parents as well as students, The Advertiser People’s Cabinet has heard.
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Overworked schools are feeding hungry students – and one has a pantry for parents to get food – as families are forced to live in cars, The Advertiser People’s Cabinet has heard.
Education Minister Kevin Richardson, who was Immanuel College principal for 20 years until 2023, said the cost-of-living crisis dominating the federal election campaign was gripping schools across the state.
“It flows on with education, like the number of schools who are working out ways in which they can actually feed children. I was in a school the other day that actually has a pantry for parents to access food,” said Mr Richardson, now an education consultant.
Mr Richardson said hunger relief charity Foodbank had told him of devising plans to help people boil water in cars, so they could eat noodles.
“When I heard that I went: ‘Wow this is really serious now’, and as they said, there was one (example of) three kids and a mum living in a car and they were coming in to try and collect that sort of stuff,” he said.
Mr Richardson said schools were carrying a much greater load, because they were helping parents by supporting children and showing them how to access resources.
“I think one of the things lots of people have lost is hope, and that’s a killer for our whole community and how we live,” he said.
Health Minister Steph Malan said: “Cost of living is a crisis that creates more crisis. Cost of living is a health crisis.”
A former midwife and the managing director of a charity supporting new mothers, she cited research showing at least half of the 18,000 to 20,000 new mums in SA annually were experiencing some significant financial strain.
Commissioned by The Village Co., of which Ms Malan is managing director, the research also showed about 60 per cent were experiencing food and housing insecurity, along with domestic violence.
“We’re seeing women having to water down formula and not be able to access pads, and things that are getting treated like added extras or luxuries that are really essential that people aren’t able to afford,” she said.
Small Business Minister Simone Douglas, who hosted the People’s Cabinet at The Duke of Brunswick Hotel, suggested raising the GST and axing taxes, like payroll tax, to pay for improved services.
“My big thing for the election, if I was in charge, it would be tax reform. We don’t have the tax policy to take us into the future. We have the policy of our forefathers. We lived in a very different world then. It needs to evolve. We need some brave politicians. Some people who are prepared to put their careers on the line to do what’s best for the country,” she said.
“We’re not seeing that yet. Hopefully we see it before we go to the polls.”
Transport Minister Caroline Antonino backed a $1bn Adelaide freight bypass around the Adelaide Hills, which Opposition Leader Peter Dutton on Monday vowed to kickstart with $840m.
Ms Antonino, the owner-operator of Chauffeur Nanny service, said this would benefit Hills housing.
“People can then afford to live out there, because they’re not fighting their way down the freeway and up the freeway with trucks,” she said.
A driver for about a decade, Ms Antonino said traffic congestion and roadworks frequency had worsened, suggesting maintenance take place only from 7pm-7am.
“I get on it sometimes out at Angle Vale and by the time I get to Regency Rd, getting to the Brickworks, it slows to 60km/h, and then the bottleneck right up near the Brickworks, Adam St, it’s just not worth the hassle,” she said.
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Originally published as Federal election 2025: The Advertiser People’s Cabinet reveals school feeding hungry parents
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