Kids going to school hungry has cost of living crisis bites families

Unable to afford lunches and fuel, parents struggling under the cost-of-living crisis are keeping their children from school as social services warn the state government and opposition of the dire situation.

Struggling parents across Toowoomba are not sending their children to school because they’re unable to afford lunches or fuel as they continue to fight an uphill battle against the cost-of-living crisis on multiple fronts.

Families are seeing an increasing share of their weekly budget being devoured by skyrocketing rent, fuel and power bills while the state government has recorded a $12.3bn surplus – the biggest in Queensland’s history.

Now the people at the coal face of the cost-of-living crisis – social service providers, churches and charities – are calling on both political sides of the political divide to commit to sharing that prosperity with ordinary Queenslanders as the 2024 state election draws closer.

The Queensland Council of Social Services will meet in Toowoomba on Friday for the latest of a series of town hall meetings as it gears up for a budget fight.

Queensland Council of Social Service (QCCOSS) chief executive Aimee McVeigh will be in Toowoomba on Friday to meet with social service providers and talk about the cost of living and housing crisis.

QCOSS chief executive Aimee McVeigh painted a heartbreaking picture for countless families across Toowoomba and broader regional Queensland, and said the main motivation for the QCOSS Make Queensland Fairer campaign was to push for a greater funding for social services, immediate power, fuel and rent relief, a temporary cap on rent increase and a clear plan to address the state’s growing housing supply shortfall.

“There are lots of children who are not able to turn up to school because their families don’t have enough money for food and fuel,” she said.

“Lots of people are struggling to keep a roof over their head.

“The state government will deliver its budget in less than a month and it must do more to help struggling Queenslanders, in particular vulnerable families with children. The state opposition must also address this in their budget reply.”

According to the latest figures from the Australia Bureau of Statistics, the Darling Downs saw a 39 per cent increase in the number of people accessing specialist homelessness service in the past two years.

In that time, the number of families with children aged 0-9 years old more than doubled with the average cost of a rental in the Garden City rising by 48 per cent.

The figures worry Ms McVeigh, who is calling on both Labor and the Liberal National Party to outline their plans to fix the problem.

“It is an election year, we understand that so many Queenslanders are doing it tough, household budgets are under extreme pressure, but the state is booming,” she said.

“Our services just cannot keep up, we are underfunded, with low wages and insecure work.

“While the current government has made some really important progress with its Homes For Queenslanders program we are concerned that there may be a change of government and we don’t know what the LNP plan would be to address the housing crisis.

“We have had lots of engagement with the LNP, but we have not been briefed on any housing policy that will address the housing crisis.

“We will be paying close attention to the state budget and the LNP budget reply speech.”

Anglicare Southern Queensland is one of the social services involved in the town hall meeting and has seen an unprecedented rise in the number of families that have reached out for housing support or mental health counselling as a result of housing stress.

Chief executive Sue Cooke said most of the ideas put forward by our political leaders were ‘bandaid’ solutions at best.

“There is nothing out there that is a long-term, sustainable solution,” she said.

“We need the commonwealth and state to really lean in and think about solutions.

“Current crisis is the result of four decades in the making, with poor housing policy that favours the private market over social housing and we need to see some policy shifts from a courageous government.”

While crime will be high on the agenda during the election, Ms Cooke said it was likely the cost of living crisis would be the deciding factor.

“Most people that we talk to, including our donors, understand that governments must lean in,” she said.

“The rising cost of fuel, food, power and housing is affecting everyone.”