Sydney Food For Life Center Opening Television News Coverage

The plight of Sydney's ever-increasing homeless population was highlighted by the opening this evening of a new drop-in centre and emergency food outlet. It's not run by the established religions, but by the Hare Krishna Society, and it's called the Food for Life Centre. Religion and charity have always gone hand in hand, but for the down-and-out, the druggies, and the many lost souls who make the streets of King's Cross their home, it's generally the Sydney City Mission or St Vincent de Paul to whom they turn. But the increasing numbers of people needing emergency meals has led the Krishnas to join them.

Our founding spiritual master, Srila Prabhupada, he told us that around each temple for 10 miles, no one should go hungry. So we opened up the Food for Life simultaneously. We were moving here about five years ago. Tonight's opening of extensions to Hare Krishna headquarters by local MP Michael Yabsley highlights the urgent need for government funds to be channelled into this important work.

The prime duty of a government at least is to feed the people. So if the government can't feed the people directly, they should give us funds because we know how to feed them. All we require is buildings and facilities for feeding them. The centre provides as many as 160 meals a day and demand is continually increasing.

Upstairs is for those at least prepared to think about Krishna consciousness. Downstairs is open to anyone. Laurie Pattern reporting for Newsworld. The newly formed Coalition Against Poverty is leading the fight to have the emergency payments reintroduced.

The system of small cash payments for urgent things like food and electricity was instituted by the state government in 1978 to combat welfare cuts by the Fraser government. This month, the state government cut $6.8 million, 75% of funds available for the emergency cash handouts because it believes it's a federal responsibility. While they are toughing it out, people are starving, people are having their life cut off, people are being evicted, and it will get worse before it gets better. I went to receive assistance for my electricity bill.

YACS paid half of it for me and told me not to come back for any assistance for another year. The cuts mean single people have been virtually excluded from the scheme and payments will be made only to married couples whose children are deemed at risk or neglected or where the family could break down without emergency aid. A spokesman for Youth and Community Services Minister, Frank Walker, said the state government has no plans to reintroduce the payments. Since the emergency cash system was cut, business has boomed at inner-city soup kitchens, with some experiencing double their normal patronage.

Last Wednesday, the Hare Krishna Food for Life kitchen ran out of free food for the first time in eight years. Since emergency aid was cut on the 1st of October, the number of people queuing for food at the Hare Krishna Food for Life centre has almost doubled. Almost 200 a night are expected by the end of the month if there's no boost in emergency aid from the state or federal governments. Last Wednesday night, the centre ran out of food for the first time in its five years of operation.

To help cope with demand, the Hare Krishnas tonight officially opened an extension of their dining area. Worldwide director of Food for Life, Srila Vishnupad, says it's a disgrace that in a wealthy country like Australia, people are starving. I mean, it's ridiculous that you have so much wheat. You're one of the major wheat-producing countries in the world.

And just over some politics and bickering over a small amount of money between the state government and the federal government, and meanwhile the people are starving. I mean, it's ridiculous. It's a symptom of an uncaring government, and those kind of governments should be thrown out. The cut in emergency aid also continues to stretch the resources of other voluntary agencies.

The Smith family, Careforce, and Sydney City Mission today reported an 80% increase in demand for assistance. Carolyn Jack, Eyewitness News. Hare Narasimha Gokul. In the name of the Lord, Shri Krishna, Chaitanya, Bhagavad Gita.