Every year Parliament House helps raise money through the Christmas Giving Tree program for two charities who do important work for our community.
This year, the organisations who will benefit are Foodbank Australia which provides food relief to those in need and Community First Development which works on projects with First Nations communities.
This year, the organisations who will benefit are Foodbank Australia which provides food relief to those in need and Community First Development which works on projects with First Nations communities.
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NewsTranscript
00:00 Alright.
00:02 5, 4, 3, 2, 1.
00:10 [applause]
00:22 [Christmas carols]
00:34 We are officially launching Christmas for the whole nation for 2023.
00:39 We love Christmas.
00:41 [applause]
00:43 Well, as the President knows, Christmas is very special to me
00:47 because it is such a beautiful time of the year
00:50 and we are so blessed to be able to be here in the nation's capital
00:54 but also to be with charities that do so much work
00:58 not just at Christmas time but right throughout the year.
01:01 The Giving Tree behind me since 2013 has raised around $30,000 for 21 charities.
01:08 [Christmas carols]
01:15 Right now we hear constantly talk around the cost of living crisis
01:20 and at Foodbank we are seeing it first hand with our charities.
01:23 We are now seeing for the first time families who are coming,
01:27 double income families who are going to work,
01:30 who are paying rent or paying mortgage so you can no longer afford to put food on the table
01:34 every day for themselves and their children.
01:37 I've met some of these families.
01:39 They're families who mum and dad will come home from work,
01:42 they'll put meals on the table for their children
01:45 and they'll tell their kids that they had a big lunch today
01:48 and that's why they're not eating so there's no guilt on the part of the children
01:52 when it comes to actually them sitting down and having a meal without mum and dad eating.
01:58 The sad reality is that one in six households are now unable to eat three meals a day
02:04 and as I say many of those are people who set an alarm, get up and go to work every day.
02:10 Rents are going up, energy prices, all those things are putting pressure on family budgets
02:16 and food has now become for many families a discretionary item in their budget.
02:21 Everything we do is based on self determination.
02:25 First Nations people and communities are best placed to identify the solutions to their own challenges.
02:32 [Music]
02:56 [BLANK_AUDIO]