Here is more grim news about the cost-of-living crisis in Australia. We have covered the housing and rental crises, but another issue of concern is food security in what was once the “lucky country.” It has been reported that around 3.7 million Australian households are facing food security issues. The prices of basic food items seem to rise almost every week, and people are faced with decisions about what not to get each week to make ends meet. As well, there have been rising power costs as well, let alone the housing and rental issues.
According to the organisation Foodbank, over a third of the Australian population either "compromise their meal choices" or are forced to "skip meals or whole days of eating", and the proportion of Australians who have "experienced some level of difficulty in meeting the most basic of needs" is approaching 50 per cent.
As I see it, this is no economic accident, but is a product of the globalist forces at work to produce the Great Reset. As was famously said, you will own nothing and be happy. What is the case though is that one will have nothing, and be profoundly unhappy. Hopefully from this season of discontent, resistance and political action will arise.
“Avocados aren't typically associated with epiphanies — but it was while shopping for fresh fruit and veg that Vanessa Newell was struck by an unwanted realisation.
Key points:
- As many as 3.7 million Australian households are estimated to have confronted concerning levels of food insecurity
- Among those impacted is Seaford resident Vanessa Newell, who suddenly found herself making difficult choices
- Foodbank Australia is urging those affected to seek support
"I would find myself walking around a supermarket and picking up something as simple as an avocado and thinking, 'I can't afford this'," she said.
Such moments almost snuck up on Ms Newell, whose cancer treatment forced her to change her diet to include more fresh foods.
Following her diagnosis, the resident of Seaford in Adelaide's southern suburbs went from having three part-time jobs to "virtually having no income".
"Progressively my cupboards were emptying, my pantry was emptying, my fridge was emptying, and I didn't have any money whatsoever to go and shop for food," she said.
"I'd never been in that situation before — I'd never experienced food insecurity.
"It never entered my mind to think that one day I'd be deciding on whether I buy food or put petrol in my car."
Ms Newell's descent into food insecurity occurred "within a matter of weeks", and a new national snapshot shows she is far from alone.
As many as 3.7 million Australian households are estimated to have battled concerning levels of food insecurity in the past year, according to Foodbank Australia's 2023 Hunger Report.
That is "more than the total number of households in Melbourne and Sydney combined", the food relief organisation's CEO Brianna Casey said.
Foodbank has been taken aback not just by the bottom-line figure, but also by the rise — it believes the number of households in which people are forced to make "unenviable choices about what and when they eat" is about 383,000 more than what it was 12 months ago.
More than a third of the population either "compromise their meal choices" or are forced to "skip meals or whole days of eating", and the proportion of Australians who have "experienced some level of difficulty in meeting the most basic of needs" is approaching 50 per cent, Foodbank believes.
The number of households in which food insecurity is "chronic" has remained around 750,000, but for many others, the experience is entirely new.
"We're seeing a real shift in the nature of people who are struggling to source food and groceries," Ms Casey said.
"We now have 77 per cent of food-insecure households experiencing it for the very first time.
"They are younger, they are mid-to-high-income earners and they are people who've never been facing these circumstances before."
Insecurity 'is a spectrum'
Foodbank's estimates are based on a survey of several thousand Australians of different ages and genders, and in various locations in different states, who were asked a series of questions in an online survey.
As the charity's report points out, hunger is a key indicator of food insecurity — but the issue is also much broader and more complex.
"When you are facing increased mortgages, or increased rental costs, something's got to give, and for many, it's food," Ms Casey said.
"Food insecurity is a spectrum — it starts with feeling anxious about whether or not you've got enough food to feed yourself or your family or your loved ones.
"They might be dipping in and out of food insecurity."
Examples ranged from having "breakfast cereal for dinner", to sending a child to school with an empty lunch box, to being a pensioner and "trying to convince yourself that two or even one meal a day is adequate".
"At the other end of the spectrum are people who are chronically food insecure," Ms Casey said.
The issue involves not just quantity of consumption, but quality.
Foodbank's report estimates 94 per cent of Australians facing food insecurity have changed their grocery spending habits, with almost half compromising on protein and fresh greens.
"As one of the biggest contributors to the strain on household budgets, food and groceries are also the first items people cut back on when trying to make ends meet," the report states.
"Forty-eight per cent of people reported reducing their purchasing of fresh produce and protein."
The biggest cause of food insecurity is cost.
While Australia's cost-of-living crisis is being widely reported, its basic ingredients — house prices, rental spikes, mortgage repayments, energy bills, fuel prices, and the rising cost of food itself — are all contributing to food insecurity.
"For food-insecure households, simple, everyday costs like food and housing are now overwhelming them," the report states.
Half not asking for help
While food insecurity is often framed in economic terms, there are obvious health considerations involved as well.
"I'm very concerned about what this means from a public health policy perspective," Ms Casey said.
In a recent federal submission, Dietitians Australia estimated that the number of "preventable deaths attributable to unhealthy eating" was around 28,000 per year.
A report by the CSIRO has revealed only two in five Australians are eating enough vegetables.
Coupled with the health implications is the stigma that can be attached to seeking support.
"One of the alarming consequences of so many people being new to food relief is that they're not asking for help," Ms Casey said.
"Half of those food insecure households are not [doing that].
"We need to make sure that anyone experiencing food insecurity feels confident and comfortable in asking."”