TRANSCRIPT
As Victoria faces a growing crisis of food insecurity, demand for food relief services is at an all-time high.
Madelaine Griffith is with Foodbank Victoria.
One case from last week stands out in her mind.
"Last week, a young mother came to Foodbank Victoria warehouse with her child in the car. This mother told our receptionist that her child was refusing to got to school because they have no food to take and they're too ashamed to go. This is just one story of many."
Ms Griffith was speaking before the Victorian government's Legal and Social Issues Committee which has begun a public hearing into food insecurity in the state.
Ms Griffith says food banks are now seeing a segment of society previously not seen seeking food relief.
"Food insecurity is essentially an economic issue. It is all the ways that society is setup that cause for example, a cost-of-living crisis that makes for people making ends meet too challenging. At the moment, the cost of food is astronomical, as we all know, and so that just makes it that much harder, that they're seeing people who are working, you know, and have previously not had to access food relief before, and many people are not accessing it. So it's there's a real change in these past few years that the cost of living is too great for people."
Christine Crowley is Melbourne City Manager at Oz Harvest.
She says in the past six months, there has been an increased community demand for food relief and there are no signs of that demand decreasing.
"Food insecurity is a problem that's not going away. We know from our annual community needs survey that eighty seven percent of Victorian charities we support reported an increase in demand for food in the past six months. And whilst we're doing our best to deliver as much as we can, 74 per cent of our charities need more food. In fact, majority tasks, they could take more than double to meet the demand. We see new people every day turning to our charities for help. Nearly a third are seeking food relief for the first time in their lives."
Alarmingly, 54 per cent of those seeking help are employed and housed, but still unable to afford enough food due to rising cost-of-living pressures.
The situation is so dire, say advocates, that 94 per cent of those affected are cutting back on food to manage expenses.
The state's Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee is inquiring into drivers of and solutions for food insecurity including its impact on physical and mental health and poverty and hardship.
It will consider options available to lower the cost of food and improve access to affordable, nutritious and culturally appropriate food.
But according to Melbourne University's Rachel Carey, many of the causes of food scarcity are beyond the control of Victoria's government.
"Our food systems are being affected by more frequent and more severe shocks due to climate change. So fires, floods, droughts, pandemics, of course, COVID 19 and also geopolitical shocks, such as Russia's invasion of Ukraine. These shocks are also interacting with underlying environmental stressors such as water scarcity. And this combination of shocks and stresses is contributing to rising food prices that you've already been hearing about, and of course, contributing to growing food insecurity in Victoria, such that the proportion of Victorians who ran out of food and couldn't afford to buy more, rose to around eight per cent in 2022 and that was an increase of 40 per cent in two years."
Ms Crowley from Oz Harvest is calling on the government to act now.
"More people than ever are going hungry. We urge the government to consider all the contributing factors that impact food security and options to address them and fully understand the needs of the community and ongoing challenges faced by organisations tasked with helping them. From OzHarvest's perspective and on behalf of many of the small charities, on the frontline of food relief, things have never been this tough, and we appreciate action now more than ever."
The Committee will also hear from local councils, non-profit financial counselling services and individuals who will share their lived experience of food insecurity with the Committee.
Representatives of the major supermarket chains Coles and Woolworths will also give evidence.
