Doomsday prepper among support groups fielding increased calls for cost-of-living help

If Trevor Andrei's phone starts to ring sometime after dinner, he knows what it will be about.

On the other end of the line, invariably, is a parent or carer and they will be struggling, financially speaking.

"It's usually 8 or 8:30 at night," Mr Andrei said.

"It will be a parent that's absolutely panicked out of their mind; you can tell they're calling and that the kids have just gone to bed.

"They just need help."

Mr Andrei laughingly calls himself Australia's most famous doomsday prepper. But these calls aren't about zombies or the end of days.

He says they're about affording your next tank of fuel, the next rent cycle or even just the next night's meals.

"I have taken hundreds and hundreds and hundreds of phone calls over the last few years," Mr Andrei told ABC Victorian Mornings.

"It's definitely increasing, especially since COVID and all that."

Expensive times

Australia's cost-of-living crisis is nothing new — in fact, it might just be worsening.

On Tuesday, economic inflation rose to 4 per cent in the 12 months to May, exceeding economists' expectations.

And despite the fact we're not doing as bad as at least some thought we would be, 13 interest rate hikes that sent home loan repayments soaring have resulted in serious financial stress.

It's something Mr Andrei is not immune from.

"If it wasn't for the fact that my cupboards are always full of things I buy on bargains, I too would have been stuffed," he said.

At his farm in far western Victoria, he shoots and butchers his own meat in addition to preserving locally grown (and sometimes bartered for) fruit and vegetables.

He's something of a nomadic character who is equally obsessed with community.

From diving, mining and solar panel installation to working as a tour guide and running an online doomsday prepping store, Mr Andrei is a jack of all trades.

His survival, bartering and prepping skills have helped him get by, and it's what people are turning to him for.

"These are the skills people need to survive, that's what they're calling and asking me about," Mr Andrei said.

"We're in an economic crisis at the moment, and that's what people are calling me and prepping for, to learn how to stock a pantry and get your food and veggies ready to just survive."

Hanging on the telephone

While a doomsday prepper isn't the obvious point of contact for most people in financial stress, there are registered organisations also noticing an uptick.

Calls to the National Debt Helpline jumped by 24 per cent last year, compared to 2022.

The team at Financial Counselling Victoria (FCV), using data from calls this year so far, expect to see that figure jump by about 10 per cent again.

"Numbers are just one part of the story. Behind every call and chat is a person reaching out for help because they’ve reached a financial crisis point," FCV executive officer Zyl Hovenga-Wauchope said.

The FCV predicts the number of online chats with the helpline will increase this year by around 65 per cent.

Mr Hovenga-Wauchope said counsellors were reporting wait times of up to 12 weeks.

"A lot can happen in 12 weeks," he said.

"Financial situations can escalate, debt issues can snowball and accumulate, and what could have been simple enough to manage initially becomes severe, complex and multifaceted."

'Tsunami of need'

New research released by The Salvation Army paints a distressing portrait of those in financial stress.

It found nearly 70 per cent of parents surveyed were going without food so their kids could eat, while 21 per cent said their kids went to school without a packed lunch.

Some had resorted to using public toilets and showers in an attempt to save on water bills.

"We are seeing a tsunami of need across the country, with people accessing The Salvation Army’s services for the first time," major Brendan Nottle said.

The financial crush also extends to adults and their health.

"We are finding that more and more people this year are having to choose between purchasing their medications or buying food," community worker Lauren Martin said.

"This is a heartbreaking choice that can obviously have detrimental longer-term consequences."

Food charity SecondBite reported similar results.

In its survey, nearly half of the respondents said they skipped or cut back on meals each week, with the vast majority doing so to ensure their kids could eat.

"It's the volume of need that has significantly changed," SecondBite chief executive Daniel Moorfield said.

"Australians are changing the way they eat just to make ends meet."

Taking the doom out of doomsday

From his farm, Trevor Andrei is happy to help those in need, even if it's not truly about prepping.

He sees his unofficial role as more about helping spread knowledge than preparing for the end of days.

"'I'm probably the most versatile of the survival instructors in Australia," Mr Andrei said, without a hint of irony.

"Once you know some of these skills, they overlap. I teach ALS: all-case scenario prep."

The people who ask for his help are preparing for all situations too. Some are scared of natural disasters, others of price gouging.

The one thing that remains the same is Mr Andrei's willingness to do what he can.

He's convinced that people are, without knowing it, slowly coming around to the prepper lifestyle.

"Everybody knows that the price of petrol and the price of food and electricity is going up — it's crippling people," he said.

"People are starting to realise it's not really stupid to have a pantry like they had in the old days.

"Tell you what — that's prepping."