Nicolette Boele (Bradfield, Independent) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

One in three, or 3½ million, Australian households experienced food insecurity in the last 12 months, according to the Foodbank hunger report 2025, which was released yesterday. The report paints a stark picture of widening food insecurity across our nation, debunking the myth that hunger only affects the unemployed or the homeless. It affects people everywhere, including in my electorate of Bradfield.

The Foodbank hunger report 2025reveals that cost-of-living pressure remains the No. 1 concern for 91 per cent of food-insecure households, followed by housing and the broader economy. Behind the data, there are some real stories of families forced to skip meals so children can eat, workers going hungry to pay rising rents and people living with disability or illness struggling to put food on the table.

What is food insecurity? It's a broad spectrum. Marginal food insecurity means you're worried about whether your food will run out. That is the case for about 11 per cent of Australians, but they are not in the 'one in three' category I mentioned earlier. Food insecurity takes in those that are moderately to severely insecure. If you're moderately food insecure, that means you compromise your meal choices. That is the case for 13 per cent of Australians. That means you may not choose to buy proteins like beef or nuts, or you switch out fresh fruit produce for lower-priced, less-perishable frozen fruit. Severe food insecurity means you're skipping meals—not just possibly one meal but not eating for a whole day. A troubling 20 per cent of Australians are in this category, and it's having crushing impacts on individuals and families.

This week I spoke with a GP who told me that there are an increasing number of people, particularly women, presenting to his surgery with low health standards—fatigue, anaemia, anxiety, depression. When this happens, his first question goes to the patient's lifestyle and food choices, asking whether they are eating poorly or skipping meals. Unfortunately, the answer to this question is increasingly: yes, they are.

The report's most alarming findings include that one in two renting households have experienced food insecurity in the past year. Seven in 10 households that include someone with a disability or with a health issue have experienced food insecurity in the past 12 months. Three-quarters of them are in the 'severe' category. Nearly seven in 10 single-parent households are now food insecure. One in five households earning $91,000 or more experienced food insecurity in the past 12 months.

All this, frankly, is crazy in a country like Australia in 2025—that families are skipping meals while, at the same time, good food is ending up in landfill. It's madness that it is cheaper for food producers to throw away perfectly good food than to donate it.

The good news is that, as well as properly analysing and explaining the problem, Foodbank have designed a solution. They've put on the table a sensible and modest tax change that would mean good food goes to people like the mum who goes without breakfast in the morning so her kids can eat before school, rather than that food going to landfill. The change would incentivise small and medium-sized food producers such as farmers and growers to donate surplus fresh food to registered food charities. It would do this by producing a cashback or tax credit for businesses based on the costs incurred in donating that food.

As I said, it's a small change—and I mean a modest government investment of around $50 million a year—and it would only cover a portion of the costs incurred by food producers when donating excess food to charities. But it would tip the scales when businesses are considering whether to donate or dump. Independent modelling shows a tax incentive by 2030 would deliver enough food for the equivalent of 100 million meals, save producers and businesses money and help halve food waste. This proposal is a win for families, a win for small and medium-sized producers who can find a new market for their produce and a win for the environment.

When I asked the Treasurer a question in question time yesterday, I was delighted to hear that he is aware of the idea for a tax incentive and that he takes these kinds of suggestions seriously. He said that Labor is always looking for ways to help people with the cost of living, especially the most vulnerable. I thank the Treasurer for his interest, and I'm excited about the opportunity to work with him and with the member for Fenner, the Assistant Minister for Productivity, Competition, Charities and Treasury, to achieve this important reform that will so positively impact struggling Australian families.