Wednesday, 15 November 2023

Adjournment

Community food relief

Roma BRITNELL (South-West Coast) (19:00): (441) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Disability in the other house, and the action I seek is for the minister to provide a commitment of ongoing equitable funding to regional food relief organisations and the Regional Food Security Alliance so that country Victorians can be assured of the necessities, such as food, when they are in need. Food insecurity is a very real problem in our state, rising from 5 per cent in 2011 to 8 per cent in 2020 and a staggering 23 per cent in 2022. With the cost of living at crisis point in 2023 I am told that families and individuals who have never before had to rely on support from food services are reaching out to groups such as my region’s Western District Food Share to help feed their families. Without the efforts of Food Share, thousands of people in South-West Coast would go hungry.

South-West Coast residents want to be able to afford to have a roof over their heads, feed their families and enjoy life. It is something that should be within every Victorian’s reach. With the spiralling costs of rents and mortgages and power prices up 25 per cent and set to climb due to the cost of the government’s failing SEC, Victorians are instead under huge pressures with cost of living. It breaks my heart that whilst your government presides over a cost-of-living crisis and billion-dollar project blowouts and squanders millions of dollars on cancelled events, everyday Victorians are finding themselves unsure where their next meal will come from and skipping regular meals.

Food Share in South-West Coast provides more than 62,000 meals a year to our region through food hampers to families and individuals, donations of foodstuff to local groups, running community meals and the provision of breakfasts, lunch and snacks to many of our local schools, yet regional hubs such as Food Share do their mammoth work without the security of ongoing funding from your government. Food insecurity affects regional Victorians disproportionately to those residing in metropolitan areas, with 15.1 per cent of regional Victorians experiencing insecurity compared to 12.6 per cent in metro areas. However, while metro food relief organisations have a greater certainty of funding and even recurrent funding from your government, regional food hubs must largely go it alone, relying heavily on the donations of the local community. Minister, families and children in the south-west are hungry too. We need to see equitable distribution of funding to regional food relief organisations such as Western District Food Share so they can keep doing their vital work.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: Order! Could the member please just refer to the minister in direction?

Roma BRITNELL: Could you remind me?

Ros Spence: Disability.

Roma BRITNELL: Disability.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I would also appreciate it if we did not use ‘your’ in that context because that is like ‘you’, therefore reflecting on the Chair.