Cost of living crisis: Qld parents going days without food to feed kids

A Queensland mother has revealed she went three days without eating to ensure her children had food when the family found themselves homeless and forced to the streets.

A Queensland mother has revealed she went three days without eating to ensure her children had food when the family found themselves homeless and forced to the streets.

Joval Bennett and her children were sleeping rough at a park in the Moreton Bay region, north of Brisbane, before the Salvation Army were able to provide emergency accommodation at Caboolture in April.

“There were times I had $20 to feed the kids for four days, I would actually go without something to eat and go to a food bank,” she said.

“I haven’t eaten for three days and you’re gonna give me like, five loaves of bread that’s close to going mouldy and a spaghetti.”

Excited and happy L-R Venenetia Treweek 20, Jah Bennett-James 9, Leigion Bennett 7, Joval Bennett and Navaeh Bennett 11, outside their new home in Caboolture. Pic: Lyndon Mechielsen

She is not alone, new research from The Salvation Army has found 69 per cent of parents revealing they go without food so their children can eat.

She credited organisations like The Salvos for their help with school uniforms and a roof over their head, but said she was most touched by community generosity.

“There were times where you were so starving, and someone random would just show up with a pizza and a drink,” she said.

”You have no idea how much I appreciate it and you’re sitting there crying over a $7 pizza, because someone went out of their way to drop you something off.”

Ms Bennett, a New Zealand citizen is a long term resident of Australia and reprimanded Prime Minister Anthony Albanese for not properly ensuring housing demand was met before increasing immigration.

Joval Bennett and her children live next door to the Rothwell Community Centre. Picture: David Clark

“You’re letting people who can afford to move countries come, but there’s no housing and people already here are being priced out of their houses and living in tents,” she said.

“We’re just genuine everyday people trying to make ends meet for their children and it can just all be taken away in an instant and you get stuck in this system.”

While she has a roof over her head and her children in a nearby school, Ms Bennett said with no long term solution, her anxiety was crippling.

“In another three weeks they could say to me ‘you’ve got to go and we’re gonna move you to a motel’,” she said.

“While I’d be grateful for the roof, the instability is impacting my children, and those motels can be rough.

“The trauma on children needs to be part of the solution as well … they don’t have the coping mechanisms and don’t know how to voice their feelings, it’s really sad the effect it has on all children in this situation.”

Originally published as Cost of living crisis: Qld parents going days without food to feed kids