In 20 years feeding those struggling, I have never seen more people going hungry

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Australia has a major food problem. A growing number of our people cannot afford a daily nutritious meal.

Research shows 2 million Australian households have experienced severe food insecurity. That means they have run out of food or gone a day without eating.

Right now, charities involved in food relief simply cannot keep up with demand.

FareShare is one of the largest charities in this sector, with major operations in Victoria and Queensland. We focus on cooking nutritious, ready-made meals.

We surveyed 123 organisations that give meals cooked by our chefs and volunteers to people in need. The majority said demand continues to rise – in some cases by 500 per cent.

In my 20 years with FareShare I have never seen charities more desperate for our meals and help with other food.

It is not just low-income, single-parent or homeless groups lining up for food relief. Local charities are providing meals for university students, children at day care centres and older people who find their pensions inadequate.

Young and middle-aged workers with mortgages are taking charity meals for the first time. They are embarrassed as they are forced to choose between spending on food and meeting other rising living costs.

All this sounds Third World and exaggerated. Australia outperforms the OECD average in terms of income, jobs, education, health, civic engagement and life satisfaction. So how do we account for this paradox of Australia’s impressive global rankings and surging demand locally for free meals from charities?

Aggregated economic data cannot capture the personal reality of struggling to cope with unexpected financial, family and community changes. Those changes include food prices rising faster than inflation. That same inflation has boosted house prices, interest rates and rent – but reduced the real value of savings, pensions and other social benefits.

People queue for food outside Queen Victoria Market in Melbourne.

Global rankings and macroeconomic analysis matter nought when you are a single mum living in a car with your baby in Gippsland – just two of the people receiving our support in Victoria. When you are homeless and a charity meal keeps you alive during winter you do not get too excited about Australia ranking 12 in the world for per capita income.

Our meals are being used by a family of four living in a converted shed in Rochester while they wait on overdue house repairs following last year’s floods. Family budgets are buying less food and children are suffering.

A Childcare Centre in Morwell displays FareShare meals in their communal freezer to encourage children to eat a healthy breakfast and lunch. As the centre co-ordinator says: “Children cannot be expected to learn on an empty stomach. And why should children go home to no dinner?”

Governments are relying on businesses to donate surplus food and the public’s money to enable food relief charities to operate.

Ideally, pensions and other social benefits would be set at a level adequate to purchase food. That happened during the pandemic. JobSeeker was increased and the demand on charities fell. That remains a matter for government budgets.

In the interim, governments will need to support food charities if we are to overcome current issues.

We will need to cater for varying nutritional requirements and cultural differences, particularly for First Nations people living in remote areas where healthy food is often unavailable. Last year we cooked over 200,000 meals designed to tackle diet-related health issues.

Ensuring our elderly have access to healthy food that respects their dignity and meets their specific dietary needs is a priority. So is food support for people struggling after natural disasters and other community emergencies. It often takes families years to get permanent accommodation again. Long after public attention has shifted, support is required – and they need much more than packs of two-minute noodles.

FareShare and the hundreds of charities we work with understand the daily reality of good people dealing with bad times. Those bad times should not include hunger.

Federal and state governments need to fund and collaborate with charities to address the immediate, escalating need for healthy food.

Over the longer term they need to work with food charities to develop and distribute meals tailored to the specific needs of the vulnerable in our communities.

They should understand there is clear evidence that immediately helping people in hardship with nutritious food reduces the amount governments need to spend on illnesses caused by poor diets.

Food is necessary for personal pride and dignity. Our prosperous nation should not be a place where people do not have enough to eat.

Marcus Godinho is CEO of FareShare.

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