Thursday, 2 April 2026

 Nathan LAMBERT (Preston) (17:32): (1636) My adjournment matter is for the Minister for Carers and Volunteers, and the action I seek is for the minister to attend a local forum bringing together food rescue and food relief organisations with major supermarkets or their local representatives to discuss how we can better manage food waste, support those in need and ensure the sustainability of our food relief organisations’ volunteer workforce. I am particularly pleased to be making this request to the minister on a day when the Premier announced $2.7 million for food relief, including for a number of the organisations that work with us locally.

[NAMES AWAITING VERIFICATION]

In the Preston and Reservoir areas we are fortunate to have a number of such organisations, notably our local neighbourhood houses and also DIVRS, where Chloe coordinates the collections. They work alongside food rescue partners, including SecondBite, who was one of the recipients of the additional funding this morning. I would like to give a shout-out to Akbar there, who does great work coordinating local services. We also work with Food Connect Crew Incorporated – a shout-out there to Marla, Brit, Michelle, Daisy and Leena – and with NEFRI and Bread Hub, where Terry Brooks and Kevin Noonan do great work. All of those organisations distribute surplus food from a variety of places, including major supermarkets like Woolworths and Coles. I would like to recognise the efforts and contributions of Maureen, Dom and Raymond at Woolworths, Northland, who are busy ensuring that food that would otherwise go to waste reaches those who need it.

All those partnerships are vital and do wonderful work, but they are also under strain. Demand for food relief keeps rising, which is why we were so glad to hear the Premier’s announcement this morning. While more food is being recovered than ever, the pressure on the volunteers who make the system work is intensifying. I know that one of the organisations that delivers to Reservoir Neighbourhood House had a point last year when their three main driver distributors were all simultaneously dealing with some health issues and physical injuries and were restricted in their ability to collect and distribute. I note that a lot of those volunteers actually self-fund their fuel as well, which you will appreciate at the present moment is additionally difficult. They give up their weekends and evenings to prevent waste and ensure people in our community have access to fresh fruit, vegetables and bread. That is why I am suggesting this particular local forum in which we can consider how as a government we support these volunteers and their organisations to work meaningfully and sustainably with supermarkets such as Coles, Woolworths and Aldi. A local forum bringing these organisations and these supermarkets together would be a valuable step forward. If we get the right people at the table, we could support our volunteers, reduce waste and strengthen food security across Victoria. I hope the minister can consider this adjournment request. I would like to particularly thank Louise Kenney-Shen in our office, who does some fantastic work with the organisations that I have mentioned tonight.