Ritchelle Drilon

For years, Australia’s social enterprise sector has grown in pockets; strong examples scattered across states and industries, but without a shared plan tying them together. That’s changed with the launch of the country’s first National Strategy for Social Enterprise, coordinated by Social Enterprise Australia and owned collectively by the sector it represents.

Most Australians have stood at a self-service checkout and been asked, right as they’re about to pay, whether they’d like to round up their total or add a small donation for a partner charity. It takes seconds. But research suggests a majority of shoppers have started to resent being asked at all.

Soap, toothpaste, shampoo, nappies, period products, laundry detergent — the kind of everyday items most of us barely think twice about buying. But for a growing number of Australians, these basics have become a genuine trade-off against rent, food and petrol. Research from national charity Good360 Australia puts a number on what’s often an invisible problem.