A Whangārei mum of five called the high costs for essential items and services "outrageous," and wants the next government to prioritise it.
Trudy Jackson joined Breakfast this morning alongside Rochelle Hewines of Soul Food What's Cooking Whangārei, a food bank service up north, to discuss the cost of living in the area as early in-person voting for the 2023 election begins today.
Jackson has benefited from Soul Food's services from time to time, Hewines donating frozen meals to her whānau when her daughter had to stay in hospital every four months for periods of two weeks.
The mum of five said the financial pain she feels goes well beyond the borders of her city.
"The cost of petrol in Whangārei is outrageous, the cost of petrol everywhere is outrageous," she said
"I've had to wrangle my daughter into having my kids, because the cost of babysitters.
"The cost of everything is just shocking, it's so far out the gate it's not funny."
She brought on the programme a steep power bill of $551 for September, Jackson explaining she has a disabled child who needs the heat kept on at home constantly, or she risks becoming very ill.
"To take her to the doctor, if it's after hours it's $120 ... the cost of prescriptions, the cost of doctors, the cost of the petrol to get there, you're looking at $200 just to go to the doctor now."
Jackson also brought a supermarket receipt for a week's worth of essential groceries, including gluten-free and sugar-free items for a celiac and diabetic child, which totalled $301.79.
"That's [my daughter's] entire benefit," she said, "she's on a permanent benefit for being disabled ... and that's not buying anything glamorous, that's just the cost of living for her."
Despite her high costs, Jackson classes herself "lucky" just to have a roof over her head, given the people she has met and has supported in her community.
"I buy dog biscuits for an elderly couple who live in their van ... [the man] lost his job through being sick and then Covid hit, so he couldn't get any other jobs," she said.
"They now live in their van, they're in their 70s, they've got a dog, they've got nothing.
"[The woman] said all around Whangārei there's people living in their cars, it's everywhere."
With an election less than two weeks away, Jackson more than anything wants to see costs down across the board.
"We need the cost of food to go down, we need secondary taxes out the door, we need the cost of petrol to drop considerably.
"I think mainly, housing and petrol costs and food costs need to go right down. That's what's killing people right now: cost of living, full stop."
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