Taylor tackles cost pressures
For Angus Taylor, the cost-of-living crisis wasn't just a talking point in Warragul - it was being packed into boxes.
by Aidan Knight
For Angus Taylor, the cost-of-living crisis wasn't just a talking point in Warragul - it was being packed into boxes.
On the same day as his visit to Warragul, the only stop for the federal Liberal leader in Gippsland, inflation reached four per cent.
Alongside Member for Monash Mary Aldred, he visited Baw Baw Food Relief to hear how locals were doing it tough, and see the work being done by volunteers to provide support.
Amid current cost of living pressures, food relief services are reporting record demand.
Mr Taylor and Ms Aldred toured the facility with BBFR community relations co-ordinator Mark Cleeman, who has been involved for just over a year.
"I got involved after seeing a front page story on the Gazette actually," Mr Cleeman told the opposition leader when explaining the hours many of the workers put into the organisation - even after they'd left the building.
"Many of our volunteers take home apparel donated to the op shop", he said, which is adjacent to food relief and runs conjunctively.
"We don't have a washing machine on site and rely on these efforts for clothes donated."
Mr Taylor said the high demand for services was not unique to Baw Baw.
"They (the Australian people) just simply can't make ends meet," he said. "This is an incredibly tough time."
He described the situation as a "homegrown inflation crisis" and blamed the current government's spending, and the cost of doing business, for adding to economic pressure on households. A day earlier the Reserve Bank of Australia increased the cash rate to 4.60 per cent, a record high for the past 15 years.
During his visit, Mr Taylor tried his hand at putting together a food box for those in need, under the direction of regular volunteer Michael Gray, before being given a guided walkthrough of both the op shop and sorting centre, speaking to volunteers on the level of donations received, as well as average users of the retail side of the charity service.
The Reserve Bank Australia (RBA) November economic outlook indicated cost-of-living pressures were weighing on real incomes, with household consumption growth remaining weak. Real household disposable income was three per cent lower than a year earlier in the June quarter, while higher inflation, tax payments and interest costs continued to put pressure on household budgets.
The RBA's monetary policy statement for the same month stated scheduled mortgage payments had risen to about 10 per cent of household disposable income, above the previous estimated historical peak.
As Mr Taylor departed to return to Canberra, the challenge for Baw Baw Food Relief remains to be keeping up with the people who need that box - and the volunteers who make sure it reaches them.
