Thursday, 13 November 2025

 Jacinta ERMACORA (Western Victoria) (14:02): Recognising the particular impacts of the drought on Western Victoria, through the drought relief package we have provided household financial relief payments of up to $1000. These initiatives would not be possible without the support of the huge network of not-for-profit and charitable organisations, including many volunteers from local communities. When your population is spread across such a huge area, in small communities and on isolated farms, it can be very challenging to make sure people are getting the help that they need, not just because of logistics but also because people are proud and independent and do not want to have to ask for help.

We have an amazing network of community organisations across western Victoria. Western District Food Share rescues surplus food from local bakeries, supermarkets and producers and purchases essential food products with donations. In 2024 they provided meals to around 28,000 children and 44,000 adults. In Warrnambool emergency hampers are distributed through a network of agencies, including the Salvation Army, Anglicare and St Vincent de Paul, and this is the case for many communities and smaller community groups as well. Food share and other community groups also ensure our kids are not going hungry at school. On top of the government’s school breakfast club program, they provide lunches, fruit and healthy snacks to schools. That is certainly one of the programs that the Warrnambool neighbourhood house is involved with in East Warrnambool – a wonderful community organisation. Neighbourhood houses in general around our region are a safe and trusted place where people can go to get support. They also distribute food, providing community and school meals.

In the 2025–26 budget we doubled the community food relief program, investing $9 million in programs run by neighbourhood houses, community and volunteer-led organisations, social enterprises and Aboriginal community controlled organisations to make sure help is reaching those who need it the most.

The latest round funded several important projects in western Victoria, including installing a walk-in coolroom for the Centre for Participation in Horsham; establishing new community garden beds to grow fresh produce and support existing food pantry and ready-made meals programs at the LINK Neighbourhood house in Kaniva; cooking and food-growing education, improved food storage and vouchers for culturally appropriate food from local supermarkets for the Warracknabeal Neighbourhood House and Learning Centre; and expanding the food pantry program and running workshops on food literacy, meal planning and cooking skills at the Warrnambool Neighbourhood and Community Centre in Fleetwood Court in the city where I live.

The CWA have taken on the task of distributing household relief under our government’s drought relief program, and I thank them for that. That is on top of the quiet work that many of their branches do identifying and supporting people in need in their communities. Across western Victoria there are clubs dedicated to serving their communities. These clubs play a big part in supporting other charities through fundraising and practical help. Depending on each town’s history it might be a Rotary club, a Lions club, Apex, the Freemasons, another club or a combination of any of those. Between them these organisations often play a massive role in a local community, and a very recent example was a delivery of more than 16 pallets of toys, clothing and other goods to the communities of Macarthur, Mailors Flat, Simpson, Nullawarre, Merino and Caramut. The delivery was organised by the Warrnambool Central Rotary Club and originated from the Rotary Club of Brighton. As a recent retiree, my husband Francis helped in this process, and it was a very good experience. The president of the Rotary Club of Brighton Colleen d’Offay was quoted in the Warrnambool Standard on 12 November as saying she heard on the radio that our government was donating millions of dollars to help drought-stricken farmers:

I thought, well I’m the president of the Rotary Club of Brighton and we just donated $15,000 to the farmers’ relief project, we could do something …

So she got in touch with the Warrnambool Central Rotary Club president Brendan O’Neil, and he organised for the trucks that transport Bega cheese to pick up the donations and bring them to Warrnambool. From there Rotary delivered them all around, and I have to say all but 1.5 of the 16 pallets were distributed quietly and carefully to farming families over one whole weekend, delivered on the Friday to the CWA, and my husband was there with Brendan actually picking up the framework of the packaging and everything on the Monday. That is just a beautiful example of the power of a well-connected and well-networked community helping out. I want to thank the Brighton Rotary Club for their practical initiative. The lovely thing about Rotary is thinking about people other than themselves and what they can do for their own community, and this is just one example of that strength.

Many of the volunteers involved ought to be thanked, and we know that volunteers play a very strong role in charitable organisations and their dedication and skills have a lasting impact on so many people. So I want to say thank you to the thousands of volunteers that are involved in doing good works across all of the communities in Victoria, but particularly in Western Victoria Region and in particular the community that I live in, which is Warrnambool and district. I thank Mr Limbrick for raising the issue.

 Nick McGOWAN (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:09): Volunteers are at the heart of every community, and my electorate of Ringwood is no exception. I am very proud to work in conjunction with and support very many organisations which day in, day out provide any number of services to our local community. In particular we also have our unbelievable, our valuable and our valued neighbourhood houses.

We have very many neighbourhood houses right across the state of Victoria – in excess of some 400. At the moment neighbourhood houses themselves have a campaign that is run by Neighbourhood Houses Victoria, and that is Keep Our Doors Open. Keep Our Doors Open is an important campaign. It is important because at the moment some 200 neighbourhood houses are at risk of closure. Now, that is not my assessment. That is the assessment of Neighbourhood Houses Victoria, which is the overarching body that represents our valuable neighbourhood houses. I have neighbourhood houses in Mitcham, in Ringwood North, in Vermont South and in central Ringwood. All of these houses provide an immense service to our local communities. In fact it is believed that for every dollar spent investing in a community house, the return to the taxpayer is something in the order of $21.94 of benefit. But it goes well beyond the economics. We all know that. It actually goes to the services that these organisations provide. These services engage our local communities and bring out the very best that we have to offer. In fact each week in Victoria alone some 185,000 Victorians access neighbourhood houses and all the programs they offer. Keeping in mind that is right across 400 local community neighbourhood houses. There would not be a member of Parliament that is not affected and does not actually receive some sort of benefit for their broader community by the work these neighbourhood houses do. The CEO of Neighbourhood Houses Victoria Keir Paterson said recently:

Neighbourhood houses are under unprecedented pressure …

And they are. They are fighting for their financial survival in very many cases, and in very many cases, if not most cases in fact, the work they do services the most vulnerable among our community. They service and assist people of low income. They service and assist people who are aged 18 to 24 in particular, our Indigenous community and our migrant and refugee communities as well. Their work is incredibly important.

But it does not just stop with community neighbourhood houses. Of course there are also, right across not only my electorate of Ringwood but also the whole North-Eastern Metropolitan Region and for that matter the state of Victoria, any number of services, organisations and not-for-profits that provide day in, day out food assistance to our fellow Victorians and those within and among our community. I note from this motion that it says:

the Foodbank Hunger Report 2025 estimated that 3.5 million households experienced food insecurity in the past 12 months

That is a staggering figure. In addition to that, the Salvation Army’s Red Shield Report 2025 stated that a number of people were surveyed. Of almost 3600 community members who accessed assistance from the Doorways emergency relief services, which is part of the Salvation Army’s program, 90 per cent of those respondents found that it was difficult to afford essential living costs such as housing, groceries, medical care and utilities over the past 12 months. That is some 90 per cent of respondents. That is a staggering number. I think what it highlights to all of us here – most of us know this; in fact I am sure all of us know this by now – is that Victorians are under increasing pressure when it comes to the cost of living. It is not just about putting a roof over their head. As that survey indicates, it is actually about the basics. It is about being able to afford groceries. It is about being able to afford the utilities. If you cannot afford the utilities – you cannot afford the water bill and you cannot afford the electricity bill – then you will go cold, and you will have dire consequences that actually flow from that, both in terms of health outcomes and your nutrition and in terms of the way you are being housed and the way you are looking after yourself and your family.

I see this acutely every day in Ringwood at my office. Like other members in this place, I have a unique opportunity because we are given a community asset, a state asset, in the form of our office. And every day of the week, seven days a week, Eastern Food Rescue, the unbelievable volunteers who have formed that organisation – it is a volunteer-based organisation, a not-for-profit – provide a food relief service to locals. That not only services Ringwood but also of course Blackburn, Vermont, parts of Forest Hill, parts of Donvale, Nunawading, Mitcham, Ringwood East, Heatherdale and Heathmont. From right across our region locals can come seven days a week to my office. Supported by Eastland and through the good work of the volunteers of the Eastern Food Rescue, they provide food that would otherwise go to waste seven days a week. We are not talking about offcuts and the worst parts of food. We are talking about food that has literally been rescued and donated very kindly by a number of organisations and companies, local and further afield. That actually goes back to our community and helps alleviate the pressures that we know too many Victorians are facing at the moment, as evidenced not only in that survey but anecdotally from the conversations we all have as members of Parliament each and every day of the week and any number of other surveys at the moment, which tell us all in this place that the pressures on everyday, ordinary Victorians – and by ordinary I mean extraordinary – are actually increasing. They are not decreasing.

It is opportune at this point to say that what we actually need to start doing a whole lot more of – I think this is where this motion is headed, notwithstanding that it stands as a tribute to our volunteers and that spirit of volunteerism. Ultimately it is incumbent upon governments of all persuasions to support the good work of our volunteers, because we know that they are giving their labour for free. They are also giving any number of other aspects of their goodwill and donations. In actual fact, like with neighbourhood community houses, they do not run themselves and they can only do so much fundraising. Fundraising in the current environment is a very difficult undertaking. It is very difficult for many organisations. Many not-for-profits are struggling to make ends meet themselves, notwithstanding the fact that they are servicing the most vulnerable among our community. Therefore it is incumbent that governments, including the current one, continue to appropriately fund food banks, food shares and food rescues but also our neighbourhood houses.

As I said at the outset of this contribution today, in the order of some 200 neighbourhood houses right across the suburbs of Melbourne are at risk of closure. I want to repeat what I said earlier: that is not me saying this, that is the neighbourhood houses themselves. At the risk of labouring the point, the benefit that we derive from these community neighbourhood houses is not simply about the services they are providing to those in our community who need it most – and those services range dramatically. I want to remind those here and perhaps listening at home that those services are also targeted at the most vulnerable. Not only are we providing services to our community, not only are we addressing some of the needs of the most vulnerable within our community, but in addition to that the volunteers themselves gain something from their volunteerism, which is what it is all fundamentally about. We are putting all of that at risk because year after year and currently what is happening is a reduction in the funding to neighbourhood community houses, notwithstanding the fact, as I said earlier on, that for every dollar invested what it returns in terms of economic value to the state is something in the order of $21.94. As far as investments go, this is the best possible investment any government in the country could make right now, yet their calls continue to go unheeded.

I want to revert back for just one moment to the Eastern Food Rescue, because, notwithstanding the fact that they deliver this kind of assistance day in, day out, rain, hail or shine almost every single day of the year, they also, in addition to that, do it three nights a week, so that is 10 opportunities every single week. With the assistance of Eastland and the assistance of the Parliament itself, through the opportunity we are given as members of Parliament to have our offices used by community groups and not-for-profits, we are able to assist Victorians. But I have to say, in all honesty, it is the tip of the iceberg. They are the people we see who understand that there is help at hand.

What we do not see and what we are concerned by, of course, is that behind the scenes in communities that we perhaps cannot reach – in neighbourhoods, streets, courts and cul-de-sacs – there are very many people who either do not know how to reach out for help or continue to struggle to the point that it places on them unbelievable financial stress and, in addition to that mental stress, places many families under duress and is often the cause of a number of other serious mental health complaints or issues that arise from that. In addition to that there is also the family disharmony and family violence. We know all of these issues form part of that broader question and that broader dilemma of how we make sure that we are supporting Victorians most appropriately and that those who need the help get it when they are in need of it, notwithstanding the fact they may not know how to access it. For our contribution, it is incumbent upon all of us, I believe, not only to say good things and to support good deeds but to make sure those deeds are supported in funding.

 Aiv PUGLIELLI (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:19): I rise today to acknowledge the critical work that many excellent organisations in my electorate and across the state do to support their communities. Some receive government funding, some do not. I know many would like to and I am very keen to help them with that into the future. Many are operating in a space they have stepped into where the government was not providing sufficient action or support for community. The focus for my contribution today, though, is to highlight that I have had the pleasure of working with many wonderful organisations in my region who are supporting Chinese diaspora communities around the north-eastern suburbs and beyond.

These not-for-profit organisations and community groups provide so many important services and opportunities to people in my region and across Victoria, particularly for those with connections to the Chinese diaspora. They offer cultural and social connection, an opportunity to showcase arts, history and regional specialities. They arrange wonderful events to mark important dates in the calendar. I really value the opportunity to connect with people and attend events such as Mid-Autumn Festival events held recently, Lunar New Year celebrations, dance and art exhibitions, networking events, provincial showcases, all sorts of engaging and enjoyable events. These organisations support Chinese Australian community members at all different stages of their lives, young and old. They offer fun social outings for international students. I am thinking of Marvin, who runs bushwalking excursions for international students and community members across Melbourne. There are family and children’s activities that allow young people to remain connected to language and culture, and to learn new skills. There is just so many different organisations doing so much important work, and that I want to acknowledge.

I would like to take this opportunity to speak specifically about some of the organisations I have had the pleasure of working with, and I certainly will not be able to cover them all. But I would like to shout out to just a few. The Victoria Shandong Fellowship Association is an important organisation in my region, with over a thousand members connected to the Shandong region on China’s coastline. They have a badminton club, they have a chamber of commerce, and they recently hosted an excellent Mid-Autumn gala which included folk dances, musical performances and much more. They offer so much to their members and to the broader community.

An organisation that I have enjoyed working with in my region is the Tongji University Melbourne Alumni Association. They were established back in 2017 and, as their name explains, more or less, they are a Melbourne-based alumni group of Tongji University in China. This group fosters connections between past students who are now living in our city and promotes broader education outcomes and excellence across community members and peers in various industries right across our community.

I would like to give a shout-out Burwood Neighbourhood House, which offers so many services to the local community, from support groups to social excursions to sporting events. There are English classes, there are computer and smartphone lessons, they run events and offer social groups. They have a food bank and provide knitted prostheses for breast cancer survivors. This is a community gem. It is run by a committee of volunteers – I would specifically like to shout-out Jia Hu. They are local legends who are committed to serving their community and making sure that everyone has a welcoming place that they can visit.

I would like to note the Friendship and Wellbeing Association, which hosts many activities to promote and enhance the recognition of traditional Chinese culture in my region. From stage performances and lectures on Beijing and Shanghai opera to calligraphy to fan painting activities, I very much enjoyed attending their events and welcoming a group of members recently to a tour of Parliament House.

These community-based and often volunteer-run organisations bring so much to our communities. They enrich our society. They support people in times of need. Thank you to all these not-for-profit and charitable and community-based community organisations in my electorate and beyond. Power to you and I hope you receive the funding you truly deserve.

 Sonja TERPSTRA (North-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:23): I rise to also speak on this motion in Mr Limbrick’s name, which is effectively talking about the recent Hunger Report 2025 by Foodbank and the estimated 3.5 million households who experience food insecurity or who have experienced food insecurity in the last 12 months. We do know, I think it is indisputable, that food insecurity is rising. Many, many people in the community are experiencing food insecurity, and much of this is driven by the increasing cost of living. Of course, our much-loved volunteer and community-based organisations really fill the void to help people get access to food in a much cheaper way.

I think part of the reason why people are experiencing food insecurity – it is not only because of cost of living, but if you look at supermarkets who price gouge, but also put up prices because they are playing to their shareholders. They are about making profit these days. So when we look at those sorts of things, people who really need to access food for basic sustenance are basically battling corporate giants who really have the interests of their shareholders at heart rather than feeding people.

I would like to thank Mr Limbrick, first of all, for bringing this motion forward. It is an important motion to talk about. It does not matter where they live across Victoria, whether it is in metropolitan Melbourne or in rural or regional areas, people definitely are experiencing food insecurity. For their Red Shield Report2025 the Salvation Army surveyed 3600 community members who accessed assistance from their Doorways emergency relief service. Some of the statistics are quite interesting. Of that pool of people – 3600 people – 90 per cent had found it difficult to afford essential living costs, – housing, groceries, medical care and utilities – over the past 12 months. Again that goes squarely to cost-of-living pressures that people are experiencing. Fifty-three per cent of respondents were not able to afford public transport or fuel. Obviously if you are needing to get to work, whether it is through public transport or your car, these things are pretty important for you to get there and to earn a living or earn a wage. Eighty-five per cent said they had experienced some form of food insecurity in the past year. Sixty-two per cent admitted to going without food so their children could eat.

Particularly on the last two issues – and I will start with the last part first; there is more to that – this is why the Allan Labor government has invested heavily in school breakfast clubs. We know that children are coming to school hungry, and if you are hungry, you cannot learn and retain knowledge, participate in sport – all those sorts of things. And you are tired when you are hungry, you are grumpy when you are tired and it is really hard to learn, so we know the importance of making sure that if they can get to school, kids have full stomachs and therefore can participate in their learning. That is really, really important.

In terms of food insecurity, this is a rising problem, and that is why our government has invested very heavily in this sector. I am going to talk in a minute about the local organisations in my electorate that have received funding, but more broadly, the government has been quite active in this space. Our government has invested not only in neighbourhood houses but also in food relief. There have been a range of coordination grants for small organisations that have coordinated or funded projects for partnerships and collaborations with regional and statewide food relief providers. More broadly, in regard to the community food relief program, in the 2024–25 state budget we invested $4.5 million to run the first round of community food relief programs, and we doubled the support, with $9 million invested to make sure help is reaching those who need it the most. Then there were two streams of grants to support local, regional and statewide food relief; local grants of $15,000 to $100,000 provided to support food relief activities; and other grants are available to neighbourhood houses, community and volunteer-led organisations, social enterprises and Aboriginal community controlled organisations.

On current food relief support, since 2020 the Allan Labor government has invested $74 million to strengthen food security, so as you can see, that is very heavy investment in that sector. In the 2025–26 budget we invested $18 million to strengthen food security across Victoria. This includes regional food shares, $6 million in that area, and Foodbank Victoria, $500,000 through the 2025–26 budget, building on the $3.3 million which we provide annually to Foodbank as well. You can see they are the global investments.

An initiative that my office undertook – and it was quite challenging to get this going, which I found really surprising – is we opened up a food bank operating out of my electorate office. We partnered with CareNet, which is a local food distribution service based in Templestowe. In doing that, we made food available to the community. We also have a small satellite food bank which we leave outside the office door so that, after hours, if people want to come and grab something they can. It was really hard to get that going. We could not find anyone to partner with. It was very challenging; I found that very disappointing. Some of the large organisations have very strict rules around who they will partner with.

The other thing we did was start a pet food bank in partnership with the RSPCA, because what we learned from the RSPCA was that because people are experiencing cost-of-living pressures the RSPCA was saying that they noticed the rate at which people were surrendering their animals had increased, and when they were talking with those people about the reasons for surrender it was because they could not afford food to feed them. The RSPCA did have a food bank, but having a location in Doncaster for the eastern suburbs, we found that there was a strong demand for pet food as well. We also take our pet food bank with us when we go out to festivals, so it is a mobile pet food bank. People very actively come and seek us out and pick up pet food for their animals, and everyone loves to talk about their beloved pet. Whether it be a cat, a dog or whatever it is – a guinea pig – people love to tell us their stories about how important their animals are to them, and they also tell us what a fabulous thing we are doing. They always think it is very good to provide that food bank service.

But in terms of feeding humans, in terms of feeding people, I can tell you that in my electorate the Banyule Support and Information Centre received $28,076 to provide healthy snacks at homework clubs and playgroup programs, provide culturally specific emergency food relief packs for families and deliver culturally appropriate cooking demonstrations led by members of the Somali community. CareNet, as I said, based at Templestowe, partnered with us to help us get our food bank going, and they received $50,000 to restore food distribution services across Banyule whilst maintaining current support to Manningham and Nillumbik. This includes purchasing food, enhanced logistics, community engagement and new partnerships and related support for local community organisations. There was also the Glen Park Community Centre, which received $38,845 to purchase commercial kitchen equipment and supplies to enhance food relief capacity and safety and deliver a food relief program for registered job seekers, including provision of supermarket vouchers, outreach, volunteer management and fuel reimbursement costs.

There are a few more here: the Greenhills Neighbourhood House was funded to purchase additional culturally appropriate food and deliver it, with cooking demonstrations and social opportunities to build community resilience – $40,000 for them; Knox InfoLink, $42,720, again, installing a coolroom to develop capacity for food relief distribution; Living and Learning @ Ajani, $42,450, partnering with Warrandyte Neighbourhood House, again for the availability of culturally appropriate pantry staples for multicultural and First Nations community members, which we absolutely love as well; and Yarrunga Community Centre received $17,998 for their food relief program.

You can see there is a broad array of community organisations who are absolutely doing the heavy lifting when it comes to dealing with food relief, and I want to thank those community organisations and those volunteers and workers for everything they do every day to help alleviate food insecurity that is being experienced by people who live in my electorate. I want to thank them for the hard work that they do. Of course this government continues to work on providing cost-of-living relief for people who are experiencing food insecurity and other cost-of-living pressures, and we will continue to work on that, and you can see by what I have outlined the investment that our government is providing to help Victorians bring down cost-of-living pressures. So our position is that the government will not be opposing this motion.

 Ann-Marie HERMANS (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:33): I too rise to speak on David Limbrick’s motion, which notes that the FoodbankHunger Report 2025 estimates that 3.5 million households experienced food insecurity in the last 12 months. It also refers to the Salvation Army’s Red Shield Report 2025: Struggling to Survive, which surveyed almost 3600 community members. I am not here simply to just shout out to organisations in the south-east. This is a real issue, a real concern, and I have visited personally many organisations, many community workers. Many are unpaid volunteers, some are on very low wages and all of them are doing whatever they can to try to make a difference to the people in the south-east, which I represent.

It is important to note that of this approximately 3.5 million Australian households, about 33 per cent have experienced food insecurity in the past 12 months. Twenty per cent of households experienced severe food insecurity – that involves skipping meals or going whole days without eating – in the year to July 2025. Households with a person with a disability or long-term health issue represent 67 per cent of those with food insecurity. Low-income households – those that are under, say, $40,000 – face a food insecurity rate of about 48 per cent. We find that 48 per cent of renting households suffer from food insecurity. Single-parent households have a food insecurity rate of about 68 per cent, and that is a lot of single households. The severity of food insecurity is rising by 5 per cent. Geographic spread shows us that food insecurity remains at similar levels in metropolitan and regional areas.

Cost-of-living situations remain one of the factors that is cited by many households, about 91 per cent of them, as being a contributor to food insecurity. Households are experiencing tremendous stress. Housing stress is also supercharging, and household living arrangements and situations where people are having to move as a result of rent rises are causing tremendous insecurity and food insecurity. Employment instability is also a factor.

A number of places have improved the services that they are providing, There has been a tremendous improvement – about a 53 per cent increase – in the awareness of food relief services that are being provided. What is holding people back from accessing these services is the embarrassment and the shame that is felt when people have food insecurity. Surprisingly, and people do not know this, one of the things that piqued my interest as a mother when I had four little kids was food insecurity. Surviving on one wage, which yes was a choice, meant that there was a day when I went to my own pantry and opened it up and went, ‘What on earth am I going to feed my kids tonight for dinner?’ Embarrassing as it might be, I had to play a game, because the one thing I had in my pantry was cereal. You may laugh, Ms Stitt, but it is actually no laughing matter.

Ingrid Stitt: On a point of order, Acting President, I am not even listening to Mrs Hermans’s contribution. I was having a private conversation.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (John Berger): Mrs Hermans, you can continue. They were talking amongst themselves; I saw the conversation.

Ann-Marie HERMANS: It is very personal, and it is very offensive.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (John Berger): It was not directed at you, so if you could continue your –

Members interjecting.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (John Berger): Mrs Hermans, could you continue your contribution, please.

Ann-Marie HERMANS: The abuse has continued, and I would like an apology.

Members interjecting.

Ann-Marie HERMANS: Turn it up? Seriously. This is a real issue that is affecting families.

Ingrid Stitt interjected.

The ACTING PRESIDENT (John Berger): Order! Mrs Hermans, could you please continue.

Ann-Marie HERMANS: I can remember the day that we had $10 and we were still waiting for the wage to come in. It was a once-a-month wage, and it was coming in on the Thursday, and we were in Tuesday. I went to that pantry and wondered what the heck I was going to give my children for dinner. I know for a fact there are families experiencing this as we speak. In my situation we had some cereal in that pantry, and I had to turn dinner into a game. I said to my kids, who were fortunately all young at the time, ‘We’re going to have topsy-turvy night tonight. We’re going to have cereal for dinner’ and made it a game, and they all cheered. My heart was breaking.

At that point in time I made a decision that I was suddenly interested in why as an educated woman in a family in Australia, where we had given out so much in taxes, I should suddenly find myself in a situation where I was struggling to wait for that wage to come in in two days time, that pay to come in, and I was struggling to feed my own family. I know this is happening right now throughout the south-east because I have been and seen the people lining up for food. I have stood there with many organisations and even eaten in some of these soup kitchens with them because I do not want to forget what it is like to be in a situation where you struggle to feed your family in a country as wealthy as this because of poor government decisions, a lack of funding and a lack of resources. My goodness, we always tax the married couples so much and we do not ever get a break, let alone the single families, which are suffering right now from food insecurity. It is no laughing matter.

These are real issues. It is no longer that food insecurity is only for low-income or unemployed people. The report shows quite clearly that households with employment are under-resourced and are at risk. With their bills increasing, it makes life incredibly difficult. I was speaking to somebody who provides at these soup kitchens and works at them regularly every day only a couple of hours ago, and she was telling me that in Frankston alone, there are four organisations feeding about 6000 people. It is ridiculous. It is heartbreaking.

I have had the great fortune of going and visiting so many of them, and it is amazing to see the religious partnerships. Frankston Baptists partner with the Sikh Volunteers Australia food van on a Wednesday, with the Sikhs providing the meals and they are providing the parcels of food, the blankets and the food vouchers to help people to get through. I was hearing about how one guy is living in his car because there is not enough accommodation anywhere. He has had to buy an old car in order to sleep in it, because it is too hard to get somewhere to stay, and he cannot use some of the things that are in these food pantries because they require facilities to heat them up and there are no facilities for people to use to heat up food. So then they suggest, ‘Come, this is when the Sikh volunteers will be coming with their food. You’ll be able to get a hot meal here.’ There is the Brekky Club in Frankston. I have visited there, and I have had breakfast there. There are so many different places where you can go to have food.

I wish to call out some of the amazing people that I have met with: Elena Sheldon, Springvale Learning and Activities Centre; Naomi Paterson, CEO of Cornerstone; and Silva Nazaretian at Enliven from the Greater Dandenong Anti-Poverty Steering Committee. They have been amazing. The work they do in the community is incredible. I have been to visit the south-east hub of OzHarvest Melbourne. I have been to Back to Basics in Melbourne and Narre Warren. I have been to see the work that OzHarvest is doing with the feast program, where they teach young people at schools how to cook nutritious meals in both primary and secondary, with a 10-week curriculum-aligned program, which is under-resourced and underfunded in this state, but is booming in other states because of the issues that exist.

I want to shout out to some of the churches that I know are doing an incredible job on a regular basis, with food parcels provided to so many of the people in the community. I know so many of them; I have visited so many of them. I know that Turningpoint church has been doing it for a long time in Cranbourne. I know Berwick Church of Christ has been doing it for a long time in Cranbourne. I know that there are others, like Winepress fire church in Frankston, doing it for a long time providing these meals. Frankston Baptist church, as I said, are working with the Sikhs to make sure that they have all sorts of provisions available for people. The Frankston Brekky Club currently uses the Uniting church in Frankston. We have the Brotherhood of St Laurence partnering for a poverty-free Victoria, providing additional clothes and making sure that people can afford these things. I have been to meetings with SHAC, and I know that the issues with housing are real. I want to thank organisations that are stepping out, like the nutrition education, skills training – (Time expired)

 Ryan BATCHELOR (Southern Metropolitan) (14:43): I am very pleased to rise to speak on Mr Limbrick’s motion about the considerable issues that are facing many in the community with respect to food insecurity and with respect to hunger, and the incredibly important role that many community-based organisations, food relief organisations and emergency relief organisations play in providing necessary and vital support to many in our community who need assistance.

As others have done in the course of the debate, I want to use this opportunity to reflect on some of the truly excellent organisations that we have got in the Southern Metropolitan Region, particularly in the Bayside area, who are dedicated to providing community support and food relief, in particular, to the local community, one of which is BayCISS, which is the Bayside Community Information and Support Service. They are headquartered on Katoomba Street in Hampton East, just back from the Nepean Highway, formed out of a merger of some old citizens advice bureaus in 2006 and stretching back to work that commenced in that guise as citizens advice bureaus in the early 1970s.

One of the reasons these citizens advice bureaus were established, particularly in this part of the world, particularly in that part of Hampton East, was the significant construction and need that was driven out of the social housing being built at the time in that part of Hampton East. As I was informed by a member of the local council recently, with the two new developments that are underway in Hampton East, thanks to the work of the state and federal Labor governments in building more social housing in the area, about 18 per cent of the residents in that part of the world are in some form of public or community housing, in some form of social housing. There is considerable demand often for a range of community-based supports, and food relief is but one of them. There is also financial counselling and other sort of counselling support services that BayCISS offers. They are a fantastic organisation, and I have made visits to their headquarters on a number of occasions and met with the board and the CEO a number of times. We are doing what we can as a state government by advocating to our minister. Minister Spence is also advocating to the Commonwealth government for additional support for organisations like BayCISS.

I want to particularly shout-out to the member for Bentleigh in the other place Nick Staikos, who runs an annual food drive that benefits BayCISS. He is a long-term supporter of their work, from when the electorate of Bentleigh covered that part of Hampton East. Even though his border has gone to the other side of the Nepean Highway, he is still very dedicated to supporting this organisation because of the support that it provides to communities both on the Bayside City Council side of the Nepean Highway but also on the City of Glen Eira side of the Nepean Highway and down into the City of Kingston.

The other really important organisation in the Bayside area that I want to particularly commend is Bayside Community Emergency Relief, which is a 100 per cent volunteer-run, community-driven charity founded after the Black Summer bushfires. It started as a Facebook group of locals in the area who wanted to do something to help those communities, particularly in eastern Victoria, who were fire ravaged as part of that devastating Black Summer. They launched a Facebook group, which led to an outpouring of community support from parts of the Bayside community who wanted to be able to give to those who needed help. Obviously we went from the Black Summer into the pandemic, and BCER as it is known, Bayside Community Emergency Relief, really went from strength to strength and grew and expanded its operations, providing really significant support services throughout the course of the pandemic.

Since the end of the pandemic and beyond BCER has been providing tangible support – food packages, other forms of support – to community-based organisations in and around the Bayside area. I have had the opportunity to go down and pack some volunteer bags with Deb Brook who runs Bayside Community Emergency Relief. The bags that we packed that day were going to provide emergency supplies to women and children fleeing family violence. They are connected with shelters and emergency accommodation providers and are providing support to them in the form of tangible support packs to assist those who are fleeing family violence. Both BayCISS and BCER do an incredible job at providing support in our local communities, and I really do want to commend their efforts.

There is another thing, though, I do want to do just in the last few minutes of my speech. People have given a lot of really moving contributions about the great work that volunteer organisations, emergency relief organisations and food relief charities have done in their communities, but I want to pick up on a thread I think that we touched upon in the Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee inquiry into food security in Victoria which we completed some time in the last couple of years – you will forgive me if I do not have the date in my head, Acting President.

What we did in that inquiry was look at what the symptoms were of food insecurity and at increasing numbers of people needing food relief, emergency relief and financial support.

The way we solve this problem in this country is to ensure that individuals and families have adequate wages from their employment so that we do not have a working poor in this country. That is why it is so very important that governments support things like increases in the minimum wage, which is what we have both in this state but also at a federal level. Since the election of the federal Labor government in 2022 we have actually had a federal government that has supported wage growth for the lowest paid in our community.

If we see the symptoms of people who have jobs turning up and needing food relief, the fundamental solution to that is to make sure they get better pay in those jobs – they have greater security in their employment and they have better pay when they go to work – so that we do not have in this country what we had under the previous federal government. Low wages and wage suppression were key features of the economic architecture under the former federal coalition government. What we have seen since a change of government at the federal level is both advocacy in support of increases for those on the lowest paid wages but also – in economic statistics, both nationally and here in Victoria – real wages growing again. In the last four quarters here in Victoria real wages have been growing, and that is one of the ways that we are going to fundamentally change the way that we provide everyone in our community with enough money to put food on the table. That is how we fundamentally do it.

The other way – and I do not have long – is to make sure we have got a robust and fair social security system, because that is the other really important piece of the architecture to support those in our community who have the least. Social security, unemployment benefits, parenting payments and pensions all need to be doing their bit in terms of making sure that those who rely on those payments have enough to put food on their table, have a roof over their heads and keep warm in winter. Those are the fundamentals about economic security that need to be mentioned in the course of this debate, not to discount or diminish the excellent work that so many community-based organisations and charities do in providing food relief in our community. We have got to have our economic architecture supporting those who need it most, those on the lowest pay, with pay increases every year through the minimum wage decisions and through the provision of allowances, benefits and pensions that keep pace with the cost of living to make sure that everyone in our community is able to live with dignity.

 Michael GALEA (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:53): In the short time remaining I wish to make a brief contribution on this splendid motion that has been put forward today by Mr Limbrick and acknowledge him for raising this important matter in the chamber, as it is both an opportunity to talk about and to acknowledge the incredible community groups that I think all members have now mentioned in their contributions and indeed an opportunity to talk about the very real issues and what is being done through this government and other governments as well to address these issues. When it comes to food security, as Mr Batchelor mentioned, the Legal and Social Issues Committee has recently done an inquiry on that, and I know it is also something that has been of keen interest to our Treasurer. I note that this year’s state budget features a very strong emphasis on supporting some of our state’s most prominent food banks so that they can do the work to meet the increase in demand that they have seen as a result of cost-of-living pressures over the past couple of years.

Those cost-of-living pressures have come through a multitude of ways, be it through interest rates or as a result of the historically low wages that, again, as Mr Batchelor was referring to, are the feature – not a bug but the feature – of nine years of chaotic coalition government that set out to outright leave workers worse off. We are already seeing that turn around as a result of the current federal Labor government and the considerable work they are doing to unpick that damage and to actually support the rights but, more importantly in many cases, the pay of lower paid workers as well. We cannot have an egalitarian society if we have people who are working – doing hard, honest work – and then not able to pay their bills. There is something inherently broken in any system that allows that. I also note as part of that the abolition of the dodgy practices that some employers were using to divide their workers. The enablement of multi-employer bargaining has been a significant reform to counter those sorts of companies, such as Qantas, who were using multiple different entities to rip off their workers in many cases. It is very good to see the laws that have come into place reflecting the reality of that situation up in Canberra.

There are many, many wonderful organisations doing many important things, and I would like to briefly take a moment to acknowledge just a very small number in my electorate, be it OzHarvest or be it the incredible team at BK 2 Basics in Narre Warren. The Feed One Feed All group up in Scoresby do incredible work, and it was a privilege to join them a little while ago to see what they do behind the scenes – get the hairnets on and the gloves on and help them prepare their daily orders. It would be remiss of me not to mention the incredible work that Sikh Volunteers Australia do, with many of them coming from my electorate in the south-east. They are a proud part of our south-east community. Whether it is a major event or whether it is a major bushfire or a crisis anywhere in this great nation, invariably you will see Sikh Volunteers Australia ready to lend a hand to provide much-needed and very delicious food to people in some of their hardest times, to the support services and to the amazing emergency workers who also flock to the scene of whatever crises we may face. They are an incredible group too.

On the question of food security as well, I think it was through a Legal and Social Issues Committee inquiry, the education inquiry, we had a very impressive presentation from a group called Eat Up Australia. We had the founder and CEO Lyndon Galea – no relation – come and appear before us and tell us about the amazing work that they do. I have since had the opportunity to meet with Mr Galea a few times at various functions, including at the Arnott’s factory in –

David Davis: Galea meets Galea.

Michael GALEA: Yes, it was a triumph for the Maltese, Mr Davis. It was a great chance to catch up with him fairly recently at the new Arnott’s plant in Rowville and hear more about the work that they are doing as well. In 2013 he realised that a number of kids were going to school hungry in his hometown of Shepparton. He founded, through literally just things in his cupboard at the time, an incredible organisation that is going from strength to strength. They are taking lessons but also exporting those lessons not just across Victoria and Australia but across the world. He is truly a remarkable Victorian. I would love to continue acknowledging many of the great people in my region and in this state doing that work. But I will leave my remarks there.

 David LIMBRICK (South-Eastern Metropolitan) (14:59): I would like to thank everyone that participated in this debate today. I think that we all acknowledge and appreciate that the government cannot, and probably should not, take care of all the welfare of Victorians and that there are these remarkable organisations that step up and do whatever it takes to help out their fellow Australians. The thing that makes me sad, I suppose, and maybe gives us some ambition for the future as a Parliament, is the fact that so many of these organisations are necessary at the moment and there are so many people doing it tough. My vision is for a more prosperous Victoria.

Lots of people talk about the causes of poverty, but in reality poverty is the natural state of man and what we need to really think about is what causes prosperity and wealth. We already know the answer to that – it is trade. The more that we can accelerate trade and allow businesses to develop, that causes more jobs, that causes better wages, that causes prosperity. We know that from right back to Adam Smith. We know what causes prosperity. I would encourage everyone in this Parliament and the government to do whatever it takes to try and increase economic growth, which will increase the opportunities for Victorians to increase their prosperity and decrease the requirement for these charities. They will always be required somewhat, but my vision is one day we will not need them because we will be rich enough that people will not be going hungry in Victoria.

Motion agreed to.