Wednesday, 27 August 2025

Environment and Planning Committee

Inquiry into Securing the Victorian Food Supply

Anthony CIANFLONE (Pascoe Vale) (10:32): I rise to make a contribution in support of the Legislative Assembly Environment and Planning Committee’s Securing the Victorian Food Supply report, which was tabled in Parliament on 24 November. As highlighted by this report, securing the Victorian food supply is an existential issue for our state now and into the future. As Victoria’s population continues to grow, urban sprawl in Melbourne and regional cities is impacting our food producers and farming industry. But also the increasing demand on food, the cost of living and access to fresh, healthy and affordable food impacts many across our community, including mine, particularly from vulnerable socio-economic cohorts, which we must continue to remain focused on supporting. That is why I commend the work of the committee, which highlighted a number of ongoing priorities for government to consider when it comes to food policy, including securing Victoria’s food supply by continuing to support our state’s critically important local agriculture sector as drivers of economic, employment and social equity outcomes; by protecting agricultural land regions and peri-urban areas, particularly in the context of urban growth and population sprawl; and via working to foster a more resilient food system, especially in the context of geopolitical developments, economic and cost-of-living shocks, biosecurity events and climate change.

The committee put forward 29 findings and 33 recommendations, which I am glad to hear from the member for Wendouree the government has recently responded to and is supporting. It is recommendations 1, 2 and 33 that I particularly draw the house’s attention to. Recommendation 1 is:

That the Victorian government develop a whole-of-government Victorian Food System Strategy. The strategy must address the food system as a whole (including agriculture, processing, manufacturing, supply and consumption). It should be centred on access to adequate, nutritious food as a human right and as a determinant of health.

Recommendation 2 is:

That the Victorian Government consider establishing a Minister for Food with responsibility for the Victorian food system in its entirety … The Minister should coordinate the development and implementation of the Victorian Food System Strategy.

The Victorian Government also establish a Victorian Food System Council to support a Minister for Food to coordinate the development and implementation of a Victorian Food System Strategy.

And recommendation 33 is:

That the Victorian government support community food initiatives which enhance productivity or resilience of Victoria’s food supply at the local level. It should consider supporting the development and implementation of local and state government food strategies, including community food enterprises, urban agriculture projects, co-ops, school farms, crop swaps, farmers markets, etc. It should also prioritise communities with few alternative food sources to the major supermarkets.

This outstanding report also complements the work of course of the Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee’s report into food security in Victoria, also tabled on 24 November, which identified, according to the Victorian Population Health Survey, that at least 8 per cent of Victorians experienced severe food insecurity as of 2022. A further 41 per cent of Victorians were reported to be worried about food insecurity with hunger since 2014. As of 2023’s hunger report, 35 per cent of households experienced some levels of moderate to severe food insecurity.

Food insecurity is closely linked, the report identified, with poor mental health, chronic stress, anxiety and depression. Particular cohorts that are vulnerable to food insecurity include young people, low-income groups, First Nations people and culturally and linguistically diverse communities, and in severe cases of food insecurity households have been reported as having been forced to make difficult choices between basic necessities such as food, housing and health care.

Nearly 30 per cent of food is wasted across the entire food supply chain. That is why, along with progressing the recommendations of these respective parliamentary reports, I also draw the house’s attention to the magnificent work being undertaken across my communities of Pascoe Vale, Coburg and Brunswick West when it comes to food relief services. The Victorian government’s free school breakfast program has been rolled out across a number of local schools, providing free healthy breakfasts for students, and I recently had the chance to pop in and support Pascoe Vale Girls College’s program, with principal Kay Peddle and I serving up a healthy breakfast and making 800 hot chocolates for students that morning.

The Presentation of Our Lord Greek Orthodox parish in Coburg has been proudly running the Our Daily Bread food relief program. Originally envisaged in 2011, it provides an increasing number of services, supporting thousands of marginalised people every week through food relief, meal relief, outreach support and addiction programs. Parish priest Father Leonidas Ioannou and coordinator Sophie Koutoulas and the dozens of volunteers do an amazing job in supporting thousands of people over the year and every week. We can do more by supporting their application to the community food relief grants program, which I encourage the Minister for Agriculture to favourably consider.

We also have the magnificent Hope Cafe, first established in 2011, which operates every Thursday from St Mark’s Parish in Coburg North and Fawkner and offers a restaurant-style dignified dining experience for disadvantaged community members, serving at least 50-plus hot meals and food hampers every week. I commend the volunteers Maria Costanzo and Marilyn Duchenne for their work.

We also have the Salvation Army in Coburg North, Sydney Road, every Tuesday and Friday, doing community breakfast to support those marginalised, lonely or in need of support. Thank you to Melody Lamb, Steph Glover and the many other volunteers who help that program. The Reynard Street Neighbourhood House also does a great job.