Wednesday, 9 February 2022

Ministers statements: community food relief

Mr CARBINES (Ivanhoe—Minister for Child Protection and Family Services, Minister for Disability, Ageing and Carers) (14:32): I rise to update the house on the Andrews government’s support for Victorians facing hardship during the pandemic, in particular the collaboration between the state government and the food relief sectors being crucial in these trying times. No Victorian should go hungry, and every family deserves access to food and essential items at this time, particularly those families that the federal government has chosen to ignore, such as international students and temporary protection visa holders.

I am thankful that I was able to join the Minister for Health recently at OzHarvest in Port Melbourne, in his electorate of Albert Park, where we announced a $1.67 million contribution to some 13 community organisations. It is our fourth allocation from the food relief financial reserve, and that is making sure we can provide a warm meal and the kitchen basics to those who need them most. There were some 980 000 additional meals thanks to that allocation. It is a funding announcement that brings our total investment across food relief to something like $39 million since the pandemic was declared.

Of course that food relief reserve has helped maintain capacity and support in our food relief system through the direct backing of those community organisations. Some 3.4 million meals have been supplied through the food relief reserve by our government. Can I just say it is an opportunity for me, on behalf of everyone in this house and particularly on this side the house, to thank those food relief organisations—our local councils, our neighbourhood houses and our charitable organisations both large and small—for their outstanding work, and in particular Foodbank, OzHarvest, SecondBite, the FareShare kitchen. I want to thank them. I want to also thank the absolutely tireless work, the inspiring work of our food relief volunteers, because together we are putting food on the table for people who need it when they need it, because no Victorian should go hungry.