At this year’s festive street party, count the number of children and consider this: about one in three of them on average, or 30 percent, will not receive a single gift this Christmas.

Even worse, one in seven parents are worried their children will go without a meal next Monday, Christmas Day.

How can that be? In Australia, in 2023?

You can tell a million stories with different statistics, but one set of numbers released by the Salvation Army unmasks a Christmas heartache we should all ponder.

More than one in four Australians or 26 percent – will not to be able to afford a Christmas meal.

The number of Australians feeling stressed is almost double last year and half the people reaching out and relying on charitable support this Christmas are first timers. That means, they have not needed or sought help previously.

If you wanted a definition of a crisis, this is it. And it’s not a cost-of-living crisis or a housing crisis or a social welfare crisis. It’s a crisis, that envelops us all.

Well, not all of us – because this economic ferris wheel has some people, like those making up those heartbreaking, stuck at the bottom. Others are riding high, with a view to long term prosperity and good fortune.

Those with money in the share market are counting the dollars, with the index now up 6.1 percent for the year. It’s now more than 10 percent higher since reaching a nadir 14 months ago.

The carparks at Indooroopilly and Carindale and Chermside are full to the brim with vehicles laden with presents. Holiday units in many places are booked out, with asking prices much higher than previous years.

And the queue to hire a tradie for the big house renovations across the state’s south east is now stretching well into 2024.

The economic ferris wheel is stuck. Those with fat pockets are sitting high, while others – in greater numbers than ever before – remain locked in the pods at ground level, waiting for a rescue.

Salvation Army’s Major Brendan Nottle says never have they seen a time “where the gap between the rich and poor has been so great’’.

Enter Jim “Dickens”, the boy from Brisbane, who rose to be Treasurer with the means – and many say the brains – to put this right. Forget politics. Anyone who knows him says he works like a train. That’s probably true, but sometimes it’s important to pick up passengers along the way. And that is what the nation’s treasurer needs to contemplate this Christmas.

“Dickens”, on election, promised a new wellbeing index would be instrumental in his financial leadership, and in July this year, he released a national wellbeing framework, called Measuring what Matters.

Making Ends Meet was part of its dashboard, with two metrics: the proportion of households who experienced a cash flow problem in the past year and the proportion of households unable to raise $2000 when needed. Both of those have risen since 2006.

But a better barometer might be Christmas Day this year, when the Salvation Army says 5.3 million Australians will not be able to afford a Christmas meal. 5.3 million Australians.

The Salvation Army is delivering its own relief, distributing tens of thousands of food hampers, more than 250,000 gifts and toys, 132,000 meals and 66,000 bed nights. It won’t fix the rut many families find themselves in this Christmas, but it goes to prove Virginia, there really is a Santa Claus.