?We need to be alarmed?: food banks in overdrive as politicians allow Australians to go hungry

Food banks in Australia were overwhelmed during the Covid-19 pandemic. Whole industries shut down, shedding jobs, and vulnerable people were suddenly more numerous and visible than ever. The demand for food relief exploded, and the charity sector went into overdrive.

But the unique circumstances of the pandemic obscure a much more insidious problem.

Guardian Australia has collated data from the past decade from the three major food relief providers nationally - Foodbank, OzHarvest and SecondBite - and spoken to organisations working in or connected to the food relief sector, as well as people directly using these services. The evidence is overwhelming: demand for food relief was rising before the pandemic hit, even before the black summer bushfires that preceded it.

Food relief organisations all say the same thing: they are helping more people than ever before. But this is not a good news story. Something is terribly wrong.

It's a gloomy, overcast morning at Mission House, Fitzroy. At the back of the nondescript old terrace opposite the housing commission flats, commonly called the "high rise", a team of people in fleecy-lined jackets unload vans, construct shelves and pack plastic shopping bags full of groceries - mainly food, but also sanitary items, nappies, toilet paper and hand sanitiser.

Over the course of the morning, people trickle in through the back gate with various needs. Some pick up food parcels. Others arrange a subsidy for their medication. Run by Anglicare Victoria, Mission House is open a couple of times a week to anyone who needs its services.

Sema Buyuksu, 52, is one of those who drops by on the day Guardian Australia visits. She lives in the high rise, sole-parenting her two youngest children, one of whom has Down's syndrome. She has been coming to Mission House every month for 10 years.