MEET Candice Mould, one of the 2.2 million Australians living below the poverty line.
For the past three years, she’s been a regular face at Werribee Support and Housing in Duncans Road.
Financial counselling and fresh food parcels have made a difference to the Werribee resident, after epilepsy forced her to give up work.
Despite Australia’s growing wealth, research released during last week’s Anti-Poverty Week shows that for many families, even food can be a luxury item.
The Australian Council of Social Services’s Poverty in Australia report found one in eight people lived below the poverty line. This was defined as having a disposable income of $358 a week, or $752 for a couple with two children.
UnitingCare Werribee Support and Housing’s Carol Muir said the week was designed to strengthen public understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty, encourage research and prompt community action.
“Poverty means standing in a supermarket queue quietly praying that you have added up your handful of items correctly [because] if you haven’t you’ll face the embarrassment of having to put something back,” she said.
“Poverty is never getting a haircut from the hairdresser, poverty is having no blanket on those cold nights, no phone, no car, no money for socialising.”
Last year, cost of living pressures forced more Wyndham families than ever to seek help from Werribee Support and Housing, which gave 4219 food vouchers and 1384 food parcels to disadvantaged residents.
