When the Salvation Army asked Australians about their biggest concerns ahead of Christmas, a theme emerged.
“Feeling bad that I can’t afford to buy everyone gifts and the ones I do buy for will be getting less this year than before,” said one.
Another said: “Paying bills and finding extra to spend on special food and gifts. It will be a struggle and in the new year I will have more debt I can’t pay.”
A third respondent won’t see their family because they can’t afford flights and will give relatives whatever cash is leftover after they’ve paid rent, petrol, bills and food.
These are some of the stories Salvation Army Commissioner Mark Campbell is hearing when people come to his charity for help ahead of Christmas.
He spoke of a young couple where the husband had just started his own business when he suffered an minor injury that forced him to stop work while he recovered.
Money wasn’t an issue until the accident left the couple with no income, forcing them to ask the Salvation Army for help.
“It can happen almost overnight, whether it’s an accident or people don’t have accommodation, a big bill comes in or a car breaks down, they just very quickly find themselves in a situation where they can’t afford to move forward,” Mr Campbell told AAP.
This Christmas, more than 1.7 million Australians will reach out to a charity for help and over half will be doing so for the first time, research from the Salvation Army shows.
One-in-five Australians are concerned their children will miss out on presents, while one-in-10 fear their kids will go hungry.
The concern is so stark that 1.1 million people won’t talk to their kids about Christmas because they can’t afford it, while 25 per cent won’t see family and friends due to financial constraints.
With rental and accommodation issues getting worse and food and utility costs skyrocketing, almost half of Australians are concerned about affording Christmas, with 20 per cent foregoing medical help and more than 4.2 million people starving just to save for holiday costs.
“It’s getting tougher every year … we’ve seen the increase through the year and leading up to Christmas in the struggling families coming to us for help,” Mr Campbell said.
“Even halfway through the year, we’re finding people were pretty desperate about surviving.”
The charity is aiming to raise $29 million for its annual Christmas appeal to support those doing it tough.