INALA man Paul Bryett and his family are the human face of the almost 200,000 people across the Brisbane region research shows will not be able to afford to put a meal on their table this Christmas.
Mr Bryett’s case shows how easily an accident can ruin a person’s life opportunities.
It also highlights the way escalating electricity bills are driving those already on the poverty line into desperate situations.
Mr Bryett said, were it not for the St Vincent de Paul Society’s support including food parcels in the years since a chronic back condition put him on a disability pension, his family’s situation would be “far, far worse”.
Now he and his family – partner Pam and children Ricco, 20, Alana, 16, and Dylon, 13 – are facing a new challenge.
Cuts to welfare payments have left them with less than $70 a week after paying for rent on their house in Brisbane’s south-west, food and other items including weekly payments on a $2000 debt owed on electricity bills.
The cuts to family payments of about $200 a fortnight, tipping the family into crisis, have come as a result of Alana’s poor record of school attendance this year.
Mr Bryett said his daughter had been away from school about three months this year because of asthma and muscle spasms in the stomach.
“It’s certainly a lot of time to be away from school,” he said.
“However we’ve always phoned the school to let them know when Alana can’t attend – and we’ve supplied more than 15 doctor’s certificates throughout the year to prove she’s been sick.
“Now we’re being told by the Education Department she can’t repeat Year 11 until 2014.
“But I reckon every child deserves a second chance.”
The medical condition which put Mr Bryett, now 48, onto a disability pension occurred when he was 18.
He was working in a factory making steel girders at Carole Park.
A keen speedskater, he was competing in a men’s championship when disaster struck.
“I fell and copped a blade to the middle of my back,” he said.
“This compressed my spine so I needed surgery.”
Despite chronic back pain after the operation, Mr Bryett continued working.
After four years, he moved into a job at another industrial business at Carole Park.
“I was there for 10 years, able to work despite ongoing back pain,” Mr Bryett said.
“The pain got so bad I had to stop work and go onto compo (worker’s compensation) for about two or three weeks every couple of years.
“Then the compo people said I couldn’t be compensated for a pre-existing injury.”
So at age 28 Mr Bryett was forced to go onto a disability pension.
He, Pam and their three children have had many tough times since then, but the past three years have been “hell” especially due to rising electricity costs.
“When we moved into this house about four years ago our highest electricity bill was around $325,” Mr Bryett said.
“Then it all went mental a year or so after this when we copped a bill of $780.
“Before we knew it we were behind and owed $2000 worth of electricity bills.”
The St Vincent de Paul Society’s Inala Family Support Centre co-ordinator Leasa Horne, who has been involved with the Bryett family for the past seven years, said their story was common.
From July last year to June, the centre helped 7177 people.
These people are part of a worrying larger picture.
Queensland Council of Social Service research shows more than 200,000 people across Greater Brisbane alone will not be able to afford to put a meal on their table this Christmas Day.
“Calls for help from such families are rapidly increasing,” Ms Horne said.
“Obviously if people are already on the poverty line, any cost-of-living increases are going to have a drastic impact.
“And while costs such as electricity have gone up, welfare payments haven’t.
“Our support centre here is unable to help pay power bills any more due to the numbers of people requiring assistance.
“We can only help with food packages, budgeting and the like.”
Ms Horne said electricity companies were understanding and helped people get on to payment plans to avoid having power disconnected.
“But I feel sorry for people in this situation as there’s so little hope,” she said.
“They end up hocking things or borrowing money from places with huge interest rates.”
Ms Horne said Mr Bryett had always been a “very genuine and grateful man”.
“I’m not the only person out there doing it tough, mate … there’s many, many a lot worse off … how they survive I don’t know,” he said.
He also recalled a time when the family received an additional payment of $200 in welfare payments.
“We used it to buy a pile of canned food and so on to donate to Vinnies to try and give a bit back,” Mr Bryett said.
“I got a beautiful letter thanking me for the donation … that meant a lot to me.
“It makes you feel appreciated and that you’ve given a little back.”
Mr Bryett said this Christmas there would be no treats on the table or presents for the children.
“But a lot of families are worse off than us,” he said.
“At least we get Christmas cards … some people don’t even get a phone call to say ‘happy Christmas’, and that’s sad.
“We’ve got three beautiful kids so what more do we want?
“And we’ve got support from Pam’s mum Gloria and my brother Wayne.
“Us being together as a family is richer than anything
.
“Presents are just material – we’ve got each other.
“That’s a pretty good Christmas present, don’t you think?”
