Federal budget 2023: Government needs to 'do better' to help families with cost of living increase

Ms Wood said her family has relied on her husband's public service salary for years but the rising cost of living, particularly fuel and food prices, has forced the one income household to look for savings in new places.

At first, the mum-of-two opted for an older car and the family reduced their outings.

More lately, she has been collecting soft drink cans, which bring in an extra $20 to $30 every few months, and turning to street pantries to cut down the grocery bill.

"Services that [Ngunnawal Street Pantries] provide have been paramount in keeping our head above water," she said.

"I want families to know that it's okay to access this type of support, even before things are in dire straits."

Ms Wood said she had considered returning to work but calculated that her income would just be eaten up by childcare costs.

Last year the federal government brought in changes to make childcare cheaper from July this year.

Recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics shows that the cost of living rose for all households in the March quarter.

The bureau's head of prices statistics Michelle Marquardt said employee households, where wages are the main source of income, saw the highest annual increase in living costs at 9.6 per cent.

She said this was "the largest increase since this series started in 1999".

Ms Marquardt added working households were "particularly impacted by increases in mortgage interest charges".

They also saw a 7.9 per cent annual increase on food spending.

With a third child on the way, Ms Wood said she was being "thrifty" by "keeping an eye out for baby related things" at the pantry and other places such as "buy nothing" groups on Facebook.

"I'm doing everything I can within my power to get by," she said.

"But ... we know if the fridge was to ... stop working or something like that, we'd be in trouble."

Ms Wood said she was forced to take out a personal loan last year when her car broke down and needed new tires.

In addition to car repairs, rising fuel prices have also been taking a toll on the family budget.

Ms Wood said six years ago it cost her around $60 to fill up a tank, which would last a fortnight. Now, she was spending almost double that.

"Previously I was able to make it ... fortnight to fortnight on a whole tank. Now, I'm really pushing that red line on the car's fuel gauge to make it through ... fortnight to fortnight."

Ms Wood said she wanted to see the government reassess the threshold for the family tax benefit and provide assistance to those who had it even tougher.

She said she accessed charity support and youth allowance when she was younger and also wanted to see the JobSeeker payment increased.

Ms Wood said the government needed to "do better".

"People are feeling that pinch," she said. "We need our government to step up and do something."