Dave Sharma (Wentworth, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Let me first associate myself with the comments of the member for Blaxland and extend my condolences to the Australian Lebanese community for the horrific blast in Beirut and all the tragedy and suffering that has ensued.

In these tough economic times, many Australians need more help than usual. At times such as these, not-for-profit organisations like SecondBite are more important than ever. SecondBite exist to provide access to fresh, nutritious food for people in need right across Australia. They rescue surplus food from across the retail network and redistribute it, free of charge, to more than 1,300 local charities all around the country, providing food relief to people in need. In my electorate of Wentworth, they're working closely with food charity provider Our Big Kitchen, which turns the surplus food collected by SecondBite into ready-made meals. When I went to visit a few weeks back, Our Big Kitchen told me they had increased meal production by 60 per cent during the COVID-19 pandemic. The additional volume of meals comes as a result of SecondBite's ability to source more food, with the federal government providing increased funding over the past year. Funding provided to SecondBite includes $1 million from the Department of Social Services, for those impacted by the bushfires, as well as $3.2 million to feed some of those impacted by COVID-19. One of my constituents, Julian Martin, was recently appointed the chair of SecondBite, the first Sydney based chair of this organisation. He helped coin their motto, 'Ending waste. Ending hunger.' I wish Julian all the best in his new role.