Carol Brown (Tasmania, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for Infrastructure and Regional Tourism) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I thank the previous speaker for his good wishes to all senators in the chamber. It is very fortunate that in the chamber we have all four Tasmanian Labor senators. Senator Bilyk, Senator Polley and Senator Urquhart are also here, and they will absolutely support the contribution that I will be making here today. It is an issue that I have already raised in the Senate, and it is an issue that is most urgent. So I ask the government to listen to my contribution here today and act, because they need to take a fresh look at the situation that is occurring in Tasmania.

The issue that I am talking about is the crisis facing emergency food relief in my home state of Tasmania and the urgent need for the minister, Senator Ruston, to take immediate action to prevent vulnerable Tasmanians going without good, nutritious food. Currently only one of the three national emergency food relief providers operates on the ground in Tasmania. That's Foodbank. They do a good job. They're a great organisation doing great work feeding hungry Australians. Indeed, they provide more than 70 per cent of food rescued for food relief nationwide. But, in my home state of Tasmania, it is a local organisation, Loaves and Fishes Tasmania, that provides about 70 per cent of food relief to Tasmanians in need. They provide fresh nutritious food to over 200 community food programs and 38 school breakfast clubs. Loaves and Fishes partners with another national organisation, SecondBite, as part of their highly successful efforts to rescue and redistribute food to people who would otherwise go without. Indeed, SecondBite provides substantial support to transport fresh produce across Bass Strait.

The other emergency food organisation in recipient of Department of Social Services grant support is OzHarvest, who presently don't operate on the ground in Tasmania. OzHarvest, along with Foodbank and SecondBite, do great work where they operate, but two out of the three do not operate on the ground in Tasmania. All three organisations—Foodbank, OzHarvest and SecondBite—operate in every other state. This belies the insistence from the minister that only organisations that operate in every jurisdiction can receive emergency food relief grant funding from the Department of Social Services. All we are seeking from the minister is an acknowledgment that Tasmania therefore has unique circumstances—circumstances that require special dispensation from her department through the allocation of grant funds to support emergency food relief in Tasmania.

It is the case that Loaves and Fishes applied but did not receive grant money in the last round of funding for emergency food relief organisations. They were, essentially, excluded on the basis that they are a local Tasmanian organisation. It, quite frankly, beggars belief that the organisation that provides around 70 per cent of food relief in Tasmania can be exempt from being able to receive Commonwealth government assistance. Due to this exclusion, Loaves and Fishes will be forced to close their operations in southern Tasmania, severely impacting vulnerable Tasmanians in need. And I'm sure that all senators here would not underestimate the impact of a child who goes hungry nor a child who lives in fear of going hungry. And I have to say, I knew from my own personal experience from my family when I was a young child who accessed these fantastic organisations, who accessed the much needed food to be able to feed their families.

It will mean for southern Tasmania the end of emergency food provisions for 134 community food programs in southern Tasmania. It will spell the end of a successful operation that, since July of last year, has produced over 55,000 ready-to-eat meals from over 300,000 kilograms of fresh produce. Surely this cannot be allowed to occur. Already, they have had to turn away one provider in southern Tasmania seeking produce for emergency food relief hampers over Christmas—Christmas hampers. With funding support of just $150,000 a year, this can be prevented.

This comes at a time when we are seeing an ever-burgeoning housing crisis in Tasmania, with housing stress continuing to increase. Rental stress in Tasmania is now the worst in the nation. Rent rates are the highest in Australia at 30 per cent or more of family income. Low-income households are spending as much as 86 per cent of their income on rent. These are the most vulnerable people paying most of their income on rent. As a result, they face a terrible choice. They face a choice that nobody should have to face in Australia: pay the rent or buy food. All we are asking is for the government to provide special dispensation for Tasmania in recognition of the unique circumstances we face, being the only state that does not have operations from all three emergency food relief providers that receive Commonwealth government support. We have just one. This needs to be acknowledged by the minister. We need swift and urgent action to remedy this situation. An immediate injection of, as I said, $150,000 annually into Tasmanian emergency food relief would alleviate this urgent problem that we face and would prevent a crisis in emergency food relief in southern Tasmania. Beyond that, we need a review of the eligibility criteria for organisations, I believe, that can receive emergency food relief grants. The Tasmanian situation must be acknowledged and accommodated for.

I don't have to remind this place that Australia is a federation of states in which all must be treated equally. When it comes to Commonwealth government support, it is the responsibility and obligation of the minister to ensure that vulnerable Tasmanians and Tasmanian emergency food relief providers are not ignored, sidelined and overlooked. Vulnerable Tasmanians deserve better.