Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

On behalf of the Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs, I present the committee's report, incorporating a correction to the report, entitled Report on food pricing and food security in remote Indigenous communities, together with minutes of proceedings. In early 2020, while many Australians were watching toilet paper supplies disappear from supermarket shelves, stories were emerging of people in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities facing extremely high prices for particular food and grocery items. News outlets reported an iceberg lettuce costing $7.89 and a jar of coffee selling for $55. This inquiry was initiated in response to those reports and other longstanding concerns regarding the availability and affordability of nutritious food in remote communities. The high prices reported in the media were put to the relevant stores, and while there was an answer to each of those reported prices, it became clear that these stories reflected a persistent disquiet regarding the supply of affordable, nutritious, quality food in many remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. That supply is tenuous and needs to be improved.

Food security issues for remote First Nations communities are not new. For many people living remotely, food security is an annual concern. The supply of quality and affordable food is often unstable due to poor infrastructure, seasonal changes and the high costs of living and of operating stores remotely. Community stores are not a lucrative business. Stores are operating in situations that are very difficult and where costs are much higher than in urban centres. A broken fridge can't be repaired quickly and cheaply when the closest fridge repair person is located 200 kilometres up a four-wheel drive track. Goods can travel halfway across the country before they arrive at the stores, and there is substantial cost and fragility involved in food supply to remote places.

However, despite these challenges, the committee also learned there is a very good story to be told about what happened in remote communities this year during the COVID-19 pandemic. In March this year, biosecurity zones were created to keep very vulnerable remote communities safe from the coronavirus pandemic. Those biosecurity zones meant that more people were returning to live in remote communities without the capacity to travel into regional centres for supplies. Population influx coupled with state border closures heightened demand on stockpiles, and social distancing affecting manufacturing put additional pressure on the already fragile supply chain. With a potential new crisis emerging, industry, NGOs, communities and governments of all stripes collaborated with stores to ensure food supply was maintained despite these myriad pressures. The advent of the Supermarket Taskforce and the Food Security Working Group allowed for essential collaboration and solution-directed planning to occur. The committee heard stories of food being donated, new initiatives like food baskets being developed at pace and competitors helping one another to remove blockages to ensure problems were solved.

We have an opportunity to harness some of the lessons of the Supermarket Taskforce and the Food Security Working Group and we can build on the networks and goodwill generated through that process. There is an opportunity to make some important changes that could make a positive difference to the food security and health outcomes experienced by people in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities. This report recommends several measures to build on the cooperative momentum of 2020, including a real-time price monitoring and disclosure mechanism through a point-of-sale data system across all remote community stores; a national system of licensing and inspection of remote community stores; a strategy for food security and nutrition for remote First Nations communities in partnership with states and territories and First Nations people; and maintenance of the Food Security Working Group that was established successfully during the COVID-19 pandemic. We also recommend measures to support local food supply, to improve governance and oversight and to ensure that competition between management groups continues.

Finally, it's important to acknowledge that this is the third time that this matter has been examined in recent years, and none of those previous inquiries have resolved the concerns about food prices and security that have been expressed. Consequently, complaints concerning food pricing need to be examined by a body that's equipped to do the thorough forensic examination that will satisfy the public. That's why the committee is recommending that these matters be investigated by the ACCC, undertaking an enhanced market study, which they've never done in remote communities. In addition, real-time price monitoring and much better governance training and testing at the local level should help bolster public confidence.

On behalf of the committee, I would like to acknowledge and thank all those who've made submissions or given evidence. The committee received 128 submissions and conducted hearings between June and November. Conducting this inquiry was particularly challenging due to our inability to travel, but we were able to gather evidence from a wide range of stakeholders, including residents and remote community business operators. I want to thank the Deputy Chair, the member for Lingiari—I always enjoy working with him—and the other members of the committee. I also want to acknowledge the work of the secretariat, Jenny Adams, Kilian Perrem, Louise Milligan and Sarah Brasser, and particularly acknowledge the strong support that I received from Annette McHugh in my office. I hope this report leads to positive change and I commend it to the House.

Report made a parliamentary paper in accordance with standing order 39(e).

Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Assistant Minister for External Territories) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Can I firstly thank the member for Berowra for his chairing of this committee and his engagement with us on the committee process. I thank the committee secretariat, who are in the audience, for their wonderful work. I do want to pay particular attention to my two Labor Party colleagues who were on the committee: the member for Newcastle, Ms Claydon; and the member for Werriwa, Ms Stanley. They are a constant source of advice, support and companionship. I am sure the Chair would agree that we've worked very collaboratively on this inquiry. It's a tribute to him and the way he's chaired it that we're able to do it in a such a productive way, so thank you very much to Mr Leeser.

The Chair has gone through the reasons why this committee was set up and has given some history of the events of this year—COVID and what happened as a direct result. I will concentrate for a brief little while on some of the recommendations, but before doing that I want to thank the witnesses. There are many who were frustrated because we couldn't go and talk to them. That's sad. We would've liked to have visited some of the remote stores which we were hearing stories of, but we were unable to because of COVID and the restrictions around travel. Nevertheless, we did have an interaction and we were able to produce, I think, a timely and very good product in terms of this report and its recommendations. This report provides a way forward around the issues to do with food security and pricing, store management and licensing and oversight. If you look at the recommendations as a whole, they are comprehensive but they actually provide a substantive means by which we can change things. That to me is what's most important, and I hope the government looks at the recommendations sympathetically and that we get a response in a timely fashion so we can get some work done and some changes made in these remote places.

What is readily apparent to those of us who've got any understanding of the bush is that remote communities suffer in terms of access to fresh fruit and vegetables, food security generally and the pricing of goods. This is because of the isolation, remoteness, community size and a whole range of factors which mitigate against them having the same opportunities that you would have going to a local IGA here in Canberra or, indeed, in Alice Springs. What we did see was that there are some real benefits for those stores that are a part of a network like the Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation or Outback Stores. The differences the networks can make in terms of procurement, logistics and supply chains make a substantial difference in the way the stores can ensure food security in many remote places. That's not the case for small independent stores who suffer because of their lack of purchasing power, their isolation, lack of logistic support and the supply chain networks that exist in these other organisations. What we did see as a result of this inquiry is that there is a need for more competition in the wholesale market. We looked at some possible ways of dealing with that, and they're addressed in the report.

The issue of rebates was a significant point of discussion during the course of the inquiry. The committee was of the view that there needed to be far more transparency around rebates and a lot more information given to communities about the way in which rebates work and how they are utilised. There were significant recommendations in the report around the whole notion of food security. The committee recommends that the Australian government, in partnership with the states and territories and First Nations people, develop a strategy for food security and nutrition for remote First Nations communities. There used to be such, and it's now important we develop a new one. Given the agreements that have been made at a national cabinet level, I see no reason why that shouldn't happen quickly.

The chairman mentioned the COVID food security working group. Recommendation 11 in the report goes to the issues we learnt from that food security working group, including identifying improvements to logistics, assessing the viability of warehousing greater volumes of food and groceries in the more remote communities of the supply chain, and a range of other issues. When we contemplate the whole of this report, there's a great deal of benefit in it, and I do commend it to members of the parliament and to the government, most particularly. I hope they give us a timely and well-rounded response supporting the recommendations.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

The time allotted for statements on this report has expired. Does the honourable member for Berowra wish to move a motion in connection with the report to enable it to be debated on a later occasion?

Julian Leeser (Berowra, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

I move:

That the House take note of the report.

Tony Smith (Speaker) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

In accordance with standing order 39(d), the debate is adjourned. The resumption of the debate will be made an order of the day for the next sitting.