Clive Palmer gives millions to charity – and urges fellow rich listers to do the same

Australian billionaire Clive Palmer has presented Foodbank with a $5million donation -and urged fellow rich listers to do the same.

‘We live in uncertain times and many Australian families are under increasing pressure to provide for their children. Many are caught between the need for shelter, health and food,’ Mr Palmer said. 

‘Increased cost of living and increased interest rates has meant that even with both parents working, there is just not enough to save the family home and provide for the family’s needs. 

‘The result is often that house payments and children get priority and there is simply not enough income to provide three meals a day for all the family.’

In the lead-up to the upcoming election, Mr Palmer said under Anthony Albanese’s government, the standard of living had dropped in Australia. 

‘I hope Peter Dutton, if elected Prime Minister, will address the serious cost of living crisis Australia is facing and provide Foodbank with the support they require.

‘Australia needs to do more than it is doing now to feed those who are facing the consequences of increased cost of living.’

Poorer households are ‘reaching their limits’ with parents going ‘without food to protect their children from hunger’, according to Foodbank CEO Brianna Casey.

Foodbank has an increase in demand, as more Australians turn to food charity for survival

‘More than half of food-insecure households are now at the severe end of the food insecurity spectrum,’ Ms Casey said in the Foodbank Hunger Report 2024.

‘For these families, it’s not just about cutting back – it’s about missing meals entirely, sometimes for days.’

More than 870,000 of Australia’s low-income households, defined as those with an annual income less than $30,000, were experiencing severe food insecurity, according to the report.

This represented a five per cent rise on 2022, and 53 per cent of struggling households also seeking food charity more often than a year ago.

‘We warned at the beginning of the cost-of-living crisis that low-income households were always going to suffer first, worst and for the longest and these findings confirm this,’ Ms Casey said.

‘We are seeing families that were just getting by, now reaching their limits and making unimaginable choices.

Foodbank CEO Brianna Casey said many poorer households have reached their limit and are having to go without food for days at a time

Almost a third of all Australian households had cut back on food at some point in the past 12 months, according to the report. 

‘This means 3.4 million households have at the very least reduced the quality, variety or desirability of their food and at worst, run out of food so that household members go entire days without eating,’ the report stated.

Single-parent households were particularly hard hit as two-thirds (69 per cent) faced food insecurity, with 41 per cent of that number reporting severe hardship.

‘The current cost of living has severely impacted me as a single mother who works full-time but does not receive any child support from my former partner,’ an unnamed interviewee told the report.

‘One income only is no longer affordable since Covid for a single parent family to live off with the increased fuel, energy, insurance, rent, food and daily cost of living expenses.

‘I often go without food and necessities to make sure my children don’t go without.’

Food insecurity was also more severe in regional Australia than in cities.