brendarover

Australia loses 'lucky country' reputation as thousands of middle class families join free food queue

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/worl...ood-queue.html


It's a picture that no-one believed they would ever see in Australia, known as 'the lucky country' - thousands of people, including those from middle class families, queuing up for free food.
As the global economic crisis hit hard around the world, Australians had been told by Labour Prime Minister Kevin Rudd that their country had a sound financial basis.
But a queue of no less than 6,000 people, many of them from what appeared to be wealthy homes, lined up at a church in Brisbane yesterday for a hand out of food.

Mortgaged up to the hilt and unable to pay because they have lost their jobs, men and women waited from 3am until late afternoon for a mouthful of food.
The scenes mirrored distressing photographs from the days of the great depression in the 1930s.
But this was modern-day Australia, when bank executives were picking up millions of pounds a year while their customers went on the bread line - literally.
The free groceries were handed out by the Christian Tribe of Judah Church, run by a group of former bad-guy motor cyclists who have turned to God.
'This is our Free Food Friday when we usually give food out to the homeless but we've suddenly been inundated with people from the middle classes,' said pastor Terry Walker.
'It's sad that many of our homeless friends have stayed away today because they felt embarrassed about coming here for free food and being seen by the middle class people - yet curiously, the middle class didn't mind being seen here.
'They were hungry and they needed to be fed.' Among those waiting for hours was the mother of 12 children, who asked not to be named, but who said: 'If it wasn't for this church I don't know what I'd do.
'The money I get from the government just doesn't cover my bills.'
Miss Naomi Richardson, standing in the queue with her young baby, said: 'I had no choice but to come here.
'Rent is going up and so is the cost of fuel and it's getting harder and harder to live each day.'
By sundown, the church had given away no less than 50 tones of food - and
pastor Walker expects that next week the bread line will be even longer.


A sad sad sight in this day an age if this is true?

rabsody

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/s...4-3102,00.html

looks like it .......

ponyrama

I thought Australia did not have a "class system"?

And how can they afford to travel from Toowoomba, and the Gold and Sunshine coasts if they are that broke? Did they walk it? I smell a rat!

quoll

Absolute truth I'm afraid. Charities here are reporting that there are families approaching them who have never needed any sort of hand out ever before. Although the drop in mortgage interest rates may help ease the pain for a few, there are all sorts of other costs which have escalated to take up the slack. I guess I am a tad surprised at the 6000 but we are planning more Christmas food hampers this year than ever before so the numbers are definitely increasing.

comet555

I wonder if the free car they gave away helped to attract people?

I don't deny that there are probably a lot of needy people out there. But sometimes I wonder how many of those people are just like "hey, we can go pick up a week's worth of free food!"

The last town we lived in was a mining town. Property was ridiculously expensive and people regularly abused the food bank. The centre had to start looking at people's rent/mortgage expenses and wage slips before they would allow people to use the food bank. It was surprising how many people needlessly used the food bank, some of those people lived in very expensive houses and were making 100k a year!

So I take stories like that with a grain of salt. I will admit there are probably more people than ever using food banks and churches to get by though.

Kooky.

I wondered the very same. I'm sure there will be deserving cases, and also people taking the piss.

Wendy

The Aussies love a freebie - I put some really ugly (and barely alive) spider plants on the grass verge and a sign on my fence saying 'free plants' and they ALL went within half hour

I know people that will fill the car up and go to the other side of the state shopping, just so that they can save $5 - they've just spent $20 in petrol to get there though

Kooky.

The same is true in Singapore. I never needed to go to the recycling place, although I was most embarrassed when we were packing up and I put a couple of large items outside that didn't get taken (actually I think folks were not sure they were rubbish).

I can think of a previously-good friend in the UK who would have no qualms queueing up for free food so he could spend more of his money on booze or the latest gadget. We fell out over money, strangely.

Evelin

that's what I saw when I watched it on TV. A kilo potatoes, carrots and another few other items cost less than the petrol they need to get there. Maybe the pooled, three families in a car?

I don't think that everybody in the cue was so poor that they can't afford food, people take advantage of freebees.

busterboy

I am apt to agree with the lot of you! (Well there's a first on BE)!

I am inclined to believe that people will take anything 'free'. The real pity of course is the people who have real need having to compete with those with real greed.

Geelong Gent

Ironic that one women was taking in one hand while maintaining a cig in the other?

Let them eat cake

crystal23

Could have sworn I saw her with a Big Mac under her arm too.

Lots of rather obese people in that queue - hardly starving.

But the story was on Today Tonight so it must be true

Kooky.

Absolutely nothing to do with the original topic but I was just in the shower musing over my previous comment on this thread, as one does.

Re. another current thread - I must be the only sucker that fled the country being OWED money.

Amazulu

This just goes to show how easily the press/media can distort the 'truth' to further their own agendas.

pumpkin blossom

But they ARE poor! How can they afford food when they have all their designer clothes, large cars and houses to run? A swimming pool isn't cheap you know!