DUTTON LIBERALS COMMIT $50 MILLION TO FOOD CHARITY SERVICES

DUTTON LIBERALS COMMIT $50 MILLION TO FOOD CHARITY SERVICES

A Dutton Liberal Government will provide $50 million to help food charities, like Foodbank, SecondBite and OzHarvest, expand their services, including school breakfast programs, to support Australians struggling under Labor’s cost-of-living crisis.

This funding comprises:

• $20 million in the first year (2025-26), to provide immediate support to Australians in need, with $10 million for the three national food relief charities and $10 million for other charities providing food support; and
• $10 million each year from 2026 to 2029, to further support the three national food relief charities.

Under the Albanese Labor Government, Australians are experiencing the worst collapse in living standards in history. Real household disposable income has plummeted by 8 per cent, and the price of everything has soared by more than 10 per cent since the last election.

To put Labor's cost-of-living crisis into perspective, nearly 2 million Australian households of all age groups and demographics have experienced severe food insecurity in the past 12 months; 30 per cent of households with mortgages and 46 per cent of renting households are being forced to skip meals just to keep a roof over their heads; and even working Australians can’t afford the basics, with more than half of the households seeking food relief having at least one person in paid employment.

Those living in regional communities are 37% more likely to require food relief than those living in metro.

Member for Barker, Tony Pasin MP said food insecurity is impacting communities across Barker:

• More than 35% in Barker have experienced food insecurity in the last 12 months.
• The demand for food relief in the same period for this electorate was 2,173,769
• Foodbank have supplied 976,491 kilograms of food relief, both direct and indirect in
• this electorate.
• Despite best effort the unmet demand for food relief is 1,197,278 kilograms.

“Australia’s food relief sector has been calling on the Labor Government to provide an urgent and dramatic increase in funding to respond to the unprecedented levels of demand for food relief, including from Australians who have never previously relied on that support,” Mr Pasin said.

“However, the calls for funding have fallen on the Government’s deaf ears,” said Mr Pasin.

“Unlike Labor, we have listened to the sector and know Australians need increased support now,” Mr Pasin said. 

Foodbank Australia CEO Brianna Casey has warmly welcomed the Coalition’s commitment of $50m for food relief, particularly in the face of declining Federal funding to the food relief sector since 2022.

She has described the funding announcement as historic and an important acknowledgement of the growing demand for food relief in communities right across Australia, including 1 in 5 median income households.

“Despite Foodbank sourcing a quarter of a million meals a day and supporting more than 1 million people a month, the organisation is acutely aware that demand is outstripping supply, with the cost-of-living crisis also driving up the cost of sourcing, storing and transporting food relief,” said Ms Casey.

“This funding commitment is a significant first step towards gaining the upper hand on food insecurity in Australia, and strong recognition of just how essential food relief organisations have become. The framing of this commitment in the Budget reply is a strong signal of future bold, transformational policy and funding solutions to Australia’s hunger problem,” concluded Ms Casey.

Only the Coalition has a plan to fix Labor's cost-of-living crisis and get Australia back on track.