‘Fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay has disappeared’: battle to help city’s working poor

For Middle Australians the burden of bracket creep is discouraging low- and middle-income earners from aspiring for more.

Kirsty Parkes with three of her six children. Picture: Nikki Short

Kirsty Parkes spends four hours of every day on the road, driving a brood of six sons and an ailing mother across Western Sydney. That costs her $200 in petrol alone, every nine to 10 days.

And then there are the food bills. “I buy for six boys and it’s like buying groceries for six black holes – our community is constantly treading water,” Ms Parkes said.

The Bringelly local divides her time between caring for the family and volunteering at a social ­enterprise she founded to support struggling members of the Liverpool district, but the rising cost of living – and the lack of tax relief – has hit the family hard.

Her husband Don earns $124,000 a year as a shift supervisor in a nearby plastics ­factory, working 48 hours a week in ­temperatures that reach upwards of 60C.

“A fair day’s work for a fair day’s pay has really disappeared. That used to be a very Australian thing to do,” Ms Parkes said.

New data from the ABS and CBA shows the share of household income eaten up by tax has rocketed from 12 per cent in 2010 to a ­record high of 18 per cent now.

Ms Parkes spends $700 a week on groceries and can’t afford private health care for the family or for her ageing mother, who suffered an aneurysm and has been living with the family for the last five months.

Ms Parkes works unpaid as CEO of Community Cafe Incorporated, a social enterprise offering free groceries to struggling locals in the Liverpool district.

She said calls for help had skyrocketed in the past six months.

“I see it every day – the reason we exist and the reason we’re so busy is because of the rising cost of living,” Ms Parkes said.

“People are working poor here. They’re working, they’re paying their bills, but they don’t have the money to spend on basic things to live.”

Ms Parkes said that, in the past six months, the enterprise had seen an influx in attendees, with typical crowds of 100 people a day surging to over 250.

“What we see now is people travelling all across the area – from Bankstown, even as far Penrith – to get essentials from us because they’re free of charge,” she said.

“They don’t have the $5 or $10 to afford the discounted products offered in their area.”

Amid mounting speculation the Albanese government will seek to modify its cost-of-living package, ahead of a snap caucus on Wednesday, Ms Parkes said the looming alterations to stage three tax cuts were “a kick in the guts”.

“It’s hard to want a bigger income when you’re just going to have to pay it all out in tax,” she said. “A bigger income comes with bigger responsibilities and you’re compensated for that with your wages – if it’s taken out in tax, where’s the compensation?”

Liverpool Mayor Ned Mannoun echoes the despair, telling The Australian, “There are no cranes in the sky in Liverpool.”

“Whether it’s inflation, or new government regulation on everything you want to do, everything is passed on and people are losing hope. That’s when things become dangerous,” he said.

Mr Mannoun said the announcement of stage three tax cuts would fuel the “class of working poor” dampening motivations for Middle Australians to “work harder”.

“We’re an aspirational country and we should aspire for more, but when you look at your kids and see the debt they’re going to incur, the challenges they’re facing, it’s crushing,” he said.

“(Western Sydneysiders) are doing their best, we’re resilient people, but there is no hope and people are worried about their ­future.”

In his only interview since news of stage three tax alterations broke, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said the government pinpointed low and middle income earners as the focal point for cost of living relief.