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Not-for-profit organisations have reported a surge in demand for food and financial help leading into Christmas, as cost-of-living pressures and interest rate rises take their toll on family budgets.
Key points:
- Charities are reporting a surge in demand for help over the Christmas period in the NT
- Foodbank says demand has doubled in a week
- Some territorians are cutting back on essentials while others are opting not to visit family interstate
It has caused some people to sacrifice reuniting with family over the Christmas period while others have turned to financial counselling for relief.
Foodbank NT chief executive Pete Chandler said the number of people coming in for food had doubled in the weeks leading up to Christmas.
"I would say this year it's been higher than I've seen for any year I've been associated with Foodbank," he said.
"That to me describes a community that is struggling."
Mr Chandler said Christmas was typically busier than other times of the year because of the financial burden it put on homes already struggling.
"The people who are coming in are not the people you would expect," he said.
"The people that are walking in off the street are those people who do have jobs, who have seen their hours cut, who have had changes to their employment conditions to where they're just not making enough money to pay for the fuel in the car, to pay for the electricity or telephone bills."
A recent report by the NT Council of Social Service (NTCOSS) found Northern Territory households were suffering through some of the highest cost-of-living pressures in the country.
Kelly Gulliver, who is the manager of financial wellbeing programs and housing support for CatholicCare NT, said many families across Darwin were feeling the pinch as mortgage and rents continued to climb, adding to stress levels.
It's led to an increase in demand for financial and emotional counselling at CatholicCare, and a spike in the number of people turning to organisations like Foodbank for essential supplies in the last two weeks.
Ms Gulliver said households were making cutbacks amid escalating financial pressures, with CatholicCare NT seeing many cases of mortgage and rental stress due to recent interest rate rises.
"We're seeing a new cohort of people, so two-income families that are struggling. They're paying over 50 per cent of their household income on their mortgage," she said.
"Just this week, we saw a couple and their mortgage repayments had increased $1000 a month since the start of the year.
"People are lying awake at night worrying."
Families spend Christmas apart as living costs rise
Ms Gulliver said many territorians were opting not to fly interstate "at a time of year when they should be with family".
"People come in and they say they've made that decision not to return home for Christmas," she said.
"They're feeling quite lonely and isolated at a time of year when they should be with family."
Among them is Darwin university student Sujan Manandhav, who opted not to fly to Sydney to visit family over the Christmas break.
"I saw the flight ticket price increasing so rapidly, like it was around $1,000," Sujan said.
"I had to cancel my trip there and I feel a bit sad not visiting them this year."
For the IT engineer, who only arrived in Darwin in December 2021, he couldn't justify the expense when he was also juggling rising costs across the board.
"I've seen the expenses grow really high, whether it be in terms of rent, or in terms of groceries or in terms of insurance, it has been rapidly increasing."
He said he was cutting down on groceries and taking the bus to cut down on costs.
'Anyone can ask for help'
The Christmas rush for essential items comes after a recent report by the NTCOSS showed cost of living pressures were continuing to mount in the Northern Territory.
The report found the NT was the third-most expensive state or territory, behind New South Wales and the Australian Capital Territory, with the cost of fuel in remote areas being particularly high.
Rents across every major centre in the NT have been rising faster than inflation over the past five years.
Ms Gulliver said it was imperative households reach out to organisations like CatholicCare if they started to experience financial distress.
"We're seeing people who are working, and on pretty good salaries, but because their mortgage repayments and their debt commitments are so high, they're being forced to come in and ask for help," she said.
"But that's okay, anyone can ask for help from us.
"That's what we're here for."