On the first Tuesday of each month, staff at Foodbank Australia brace for news of another interest rate rise by the Reserve Bank. They know what’s coming if there is one. “As early as the next day, we start seeing an increase in demand for food relief because people are so stretched right now,” the Foodbank Australia chief executive, Brianna Casey, tells Guardian Australia.
“There’s no buffers left for people to rely on,” Casey says. “So when we do see these increases, it’s an almost immediate impact on the household budget.”
