Ms ROSOL question to MINISTER for COMMUNITY and MULTICULTURAL AFFAIRS, Ms OGILVIE
Foodbank’s annual Hunger Report is out today and the situation in Tasmania is dire, with a reported 81,000 Tasmanians experiencing food insecurity in June and July of this year. Shockingly, almost a quarter of Tasmanians are skipping meals or going entire days without eating. While the government prioritises a stadium, tens of thousands of people are literally going hungry. It is shameful, as is the fact that the organisations you expect to support people in need have not received the funding to do so. What is particularly disturbing is that things are set to get worse for struggling Tasmanians and more difficult for the organisations who support them as we head into your era of stadium austerity. Why is it so hard for you to see that the needs of hungry Tasmanians are more important than building a stadium we don’t need?
ANSWER
Honourable Speaker, I thank the member for that question, which, despite the context it was put it, is a serious question about food security. We recognise the deep challenges faced by many Tasmanians due to the rising cost of living and our government committed to increased support for the food relief sector through our 2030 Strong Plan for Tasmania’s Future.
Our government’s goal is an integrated food relief sector that supports Tasmanians in need of access to sufficient, safe, nutritious, quality food and to services that support long‑term food resilience. I was pleased to recently announce 24 community organisations were successful in our $2.5 million Food Relief Capital Investment Grants program to upgrade capital investment projects to maximise cold storage, logistics and commercial kitchen facilities to support food relief. The release of the new food resilience strategy is a key deliverable of our government’s first 100‑day plan and builds on the previous strategy in ensuring our continued support or food relief, while assisting to build food‑resilient communities. I am excited to be launching the new strategy in coming weeks and I look forward to discussing that with you.
The Food Relief to Food Resilience Action Plan 2023‑25 has delivered increased funding for major food‑relief providers, and grant funding for community food‑relief providers and nutritional programs for Neighbourhood Houses. There is improved food‑relief information available through FindHelpTAS.
I have been out and about meeting with some of these providers, particularly in the university, Loaves & Fishes, and others, and hearing about the great work that they’re doing, particularly across logistics in Tasmania. It’s clear to me that we can do more work in this area. The strategy we have developed will maximise the opportunities of getting surplus food to the people who need it. I am aware that it’s a complex area, it’s growing ‑ pun not intended – organically, so that good people in their local areas are doing great things. It’s how we connect to that better, that is going to matter.
Through our 2030 plan, the government has confirmed our continued commitment to shift the focus from emergency food relief, to building long‑term food resilience in Tasmania. This includes $14.6 million over two years to School Food Matters, to double the healthy school lunch program from 30 to 60 schools by 2026; $1 million to food‑relief providers to maintain increased funding levels for 25, including $500,000 for the Tasmanian Community Food Relief Grants Program and $15 million for capital upgrades.
The SPEAKER – The minister’s time has expired.
SUPPLEMENTARY QUESTION
Ms ROSOL – A supplementary question, Speaker?
The SPEAKER – I will hear the supplementary question.
Ms ROSOL – The minister failed to mention the organisations that aren’t receiving funding. We have heard from Neighbourhood Houses Tasmania that the funding they need for the Community Connectors program hasn’t come through to them. There are dots to be connected here. Services already don’t have enough money. The stadium is going to result in services receiving less money. More Tasmanians are going to go hungry. The question for the minister is, when will she put the people of Tasmania before the stadium?
The SPEAKER – Your original question was very broad, which is why the minister did have latitude in answering it. If you want an answer to a specific question, sometimes you do need to go down a little bit narrower in the question, instead of giving such a large preamble. I’ll see if the minister has anything more to add to her question.
Ms Ogilvie – Ask another question.
Dr Woodruff – Nothing to say to Neighbourhood Houses about the funding they still don’t have for Community Connectors?
The SPEAKER – The minister did outline a lot in her response.
Dr Woodruff – Four months and no money for Community Connectors? Four months.
The SPEAKER – Order. The only one that should be speaking at the moment is me. I remind the House, I will start issuing warnings today. I appreciate we have a lot of weeks to get through, but we’re not going to be on a slippery slope of declining into chaos. I’m going to put an end to that.
