
Sorry, did I say “live”? I meant survive. Barely.
Recently, Barnaby Joyce said he was struggling to make ends meet, on a $211,000 salary. “It’s not that I’m not getting money; it’s just that it’s spread so thin,” he says. Same, Barnaby. Same.
The former Deputy Prime Minister is living without a dishwasher and only buying a single coffee a day! But if $211K a year means “struggling”, what does less than $14.5K a year look like?
This is the amount I get as a full-time student living away from home to study – that’s right, you get $553.67 a fortnight, even though you have to live away from home to study.
After I pay my rent, bills, transport and (some) medical costs, I’m left with around $9.50 a day for food and other living expenses.
Did I mention I also need prescription glasses to see?
I still consider myself lucky, because I can sometimes save on transport costs by riding my bike. I live close to a weekly market where I can buy fresh produce for reasonable prices. I have a (very) casual job. I am usually well enough to cook for myself.
I get a discount on my medication because I have a low-income health care card. But I live with negative side effects, because the better, more appropriate medication isn’t PBS-covered and would cost me $120 a month (that’s nearly 11 per cent of my monthly income).
I’m putting off getting a painful cyst removed from my foot because it would cost me $489. I’m rationing my last few therapy sessions until I’m in absolute crisis, because I can only get 10 free sessions a year.