Minister for Indigenous Australians
Subjects: National Strategy for Food Security in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
MANUEL BROWN, MEMBER FOR ARAFURA: Hello, everyone. Member for Arafura here, Manuel Brown, and we're in beautiful Maningrida. So excited to have Minister Malarndirri McCarthy next to me, Marion Scrymgour and Mayor James Woods. And I thank them for coming out today.
MARION SCRYMGOUR, MEMBER FOR LINGIARI: It's fantastic to be back in Maningrida, particularly with the Minister for First Australians, to make a major announcement, particularly when it comes to the cost of living and what our Federal Government is doing and it's not just about looking at the cost of living and the impact of that on the eastern seaboard. It's about our government being committed to addressing the cost of living and those issues in remote Aboriginal communities like we see in Maningrida, and it is about jobs. But look, I'll get the Minister to make her announcement and to talk about this fantastic announcement that she's about to make. But before I do that, I'll ask the Mayor of West Arnhem to say a few words.
JAMES WOODS, MAYOR OF WEST ARNHEM REGIONAL COUNCIL: I'd like to thank the Minister for coming out. As you're aware, it is a central need for our remote communities regarding the cost of living. And once again, I'd just like to say thank you for coming out and making this announcement. Thanks.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Thankyou Mayor and thankyou Manuel and Marion. I just am very pleased to be here. I certainly acknowledge the Traditional Owners of this country, it's always wonderful wherever I travel, right across the Northern Territory and indeed Australia, to acknowledge the First Nations people of that particular area and their families and those present. One of the significant events is, and has been, around food security for us as a government. We have watched the concerns around the cost of living across the country. We've seen the impact of changing weather with flooding that cuts people off for weeks, if not months. We've seen bushfires that have burnt through roads and infrastructure that have disabled access for food supply chains. And we have worked consistently with the states and territories to be able to launch this National Strategy for food security in remote First Nations communities across Australia for the next 10 years. And I'm very pleased to announce this here in Maningrida. One of the things that we wanted to focus on with remote and regional Australia is the cost of living around 30 essential items. We have committed $50 million towards subsidising at least 30 essential items in around 150 stores. We've made that announcement, now is the plan to identify those stores across remote and regional Australia. We're also looking at $20 million that goes into 120 positions across those same areas to upskill workers about food nutrition. We know that in Closing the Gap, we have to improve the health and wellbeing of First Nations people across Australia and this food strategy will go a long way to doing that. Thank you.
JOURNALIST: And how will those stores be identified, the ones that will see reductions for 30 essential items?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: So, this has been a large body of work with the state and territory jurisdictions. So, what we now want to do is work through what those and where those 150 stores are, and we will do that with each state and territory jurisdiction. I met with the Indigenous Affairs Ministers last week to work through this food strategy before we finally launched it, and I welcome the fact that they support the aims of what this strategy is all about. So, from the 1st of July, we will see this in place. So, this is the work we have to do between now and then in terms of identifying those stores. In the meantime, what we've also done is assist stores like Kalkarindji to make sure that they also have what we call the food resilience package to have extra containers so they could store their food for much longer should the wet have gone further. What we've seen so far is that the wet has not been as strong as last year, but at least we've been able to move to assist these communities.
JOURNALIST: And in terms of the importance of reducing prices, what's some of the feedback that you've gotten from people out in communities about the prices?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: It's been terrific to travel around the communities, in Wadeye, for example, in Central Australia, here in Maningrida, and just listen to people talk about how happy they are to be able to get fresh food and vegies at much cheaper prices. We've been able to see that this morning in Maningrida. It's not just about the food prices though, it's also about the supply chain. It's absolutely critical that because we are in remote and regional parts of the country, it's actually the supply chain that also needs to be reduced in the cost of actually getting goods to our communities. And it's pleasing to see that that's happening.
JOURNALIST: And what types of consultation have you had with communities like Maningrida to create this plan? What's been happening with those consultations?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: There were consultations across the country over the last 18 months, two years, in the development of this plan. We had around 500 submissions, visited over 30 communities. So, clearly, we still have more to do in terms of now identifying those 150 stores, but I think it's a really strong body of work that our government has done with each state and territory jurisdiction.
JOURNALIST: With respect to that process, you said it's been 18 months, a long process, but this is an issue that people in the remote regions have been talking about and calling for support for years. Why now? Why has the government waited until the eve of an election to take action on this?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: We've only been in government for two and a half years. I think it's really important to remember that. Prior to that, you had nine years of a coalition government who did nothing, in terms of easing the cost of living for remote and regional Australians.
JOURNALIST: Perfect, that's all my questions.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Okay, thank you.
