‘Busiest Christmas I have seen’: families turn to food banks in Australia’s cost-of-living crisis

Food banks such as OzHarvest Market, pictured, are seeing a jump in demand at the end of this year. Photograph: Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images

Joanne Oliver has been serving meals to those in need for six years at One Meal in Sydney’s Blacktown but she’s never seen anything like the current demand.

“Numbers have been increasing quite dramatically,” Oliver says. “People are often lining up before we even arrive.