Northern Land Council welcomes food security pledge

The Albanese Government has pledged to put a price cap on 30 essential items sold in remote community stores.

For many years food security in remote communities has been of great concern for the NLC and its constituents.

Access to healthy and affordable food is a basic human right, one that all people deserve, whether they're living in a remote community or the city.

The latest Closing the Gap data found health outcomes across the board for Aboriginal people were improving but were not on track for the 2031 target.

A lack of access to healthy and fresh food at a reasonable price in remote communities is a major factor in these poor health outcomes.

The NLC has advocated strongly for policy solutions to address food security and the cost of living in the bush including s regular maintenance and upgrades for barge landings; a process to report uncompetitive conduct; and ensuring Aboriginal leaders are properly consulted on the issue.

At the beginning of this year, the NLC made a Submission to the Parliamentary Committee on Northern Australia - Inquiry into Energy, Food and Water Security. The NLC urges the Federal Coalition to take a bipartisan approach to address food security and cost of living challenges facing remote communities and homelands.

Quotes attributable to Northern Land Council Chair Matthew Ryan:

“Food security underpins the health and wellbeing of people in our remote communities and pricing plays a major part in what food items end up in shopping baskets.

“The cost of everything, especially food for families is way too high in remote communities and that has been the case for many decades.

“Now is the time to stop talking about it and do something because people can’t afford to buy basic healthy food and that’s affecting every other aspect of the lives of those in our remote areas.

“If we are serious about Closing the Gap, then the price, availability and quality of food must be a priority.”