A third of Australian households are going hungry

Australia’s hunger crisis is deepening as millions struggle to put food on the table. Photo / Newswire

A third of Australian households are going hungry despite millions of tonnes of food going to landfill each year, as a leading charity renews calls to change the tax system in support of food relief.

The annual Foodbank Australia Hunger Report has found cohorts particularly vulnerable to food insecurity include renters, of which 48% reported hunger, and people with disability or a health issue, of which about three-quarters reported “severe” levels of food insecurity, over the last 12 months.

In the same period, 7.6 million tonnes of food went straight to landfill, despite 70% of it being edible, Foodbank said.

“Food insecurity can be eradicated, but the Federal Government must step up, lead and take smart action to ensure Australians are not going hungry,” Foodbank chief executive and former independent MP Kylea Tink said.

The charity is lobbying the Labor government for a National Food Donation Tax Incentive to be adopted, saying the offset will encourage the food industry to redirect surplus stock to food rescue organisations, instead of landfill.

“Right now, it’s cheaper for many food producers to throw away perfectly good food, rather than donate it. This is madness when millions of Australians are going without meals,” Tink said.

The proposed changes could deliver enough food for the equivalent of 100 million meals and contribute to Australia’s commitment to halve food waste by 2030, she added.

The National Food Donation Tax was initially tabled to the Senate by West Australian senator Dean Smith in July last year, who moved a Private Members Bill to legislate the tax change.

Four months later, it was shot down by a Senate Economics Committee over concerns the tax concession could disproportionately benefit large supermarkets.

“What was missed last year was this was never a blank cheque for large manufacturers, this offset was aimed at small to medium sized manufacturers to make what is often a difficult decision, to incur costs and transport stock to food relief organisations,” Fink said.

“For us, when this was discussed last year it got lost in a debate around the pricing of groceries generally.”

Two proposed mechanisms included in the offset to help the Government exert “strong control” over the scheme are a cap on claims and restricting the eligibility to businesses with a maximum $50m turnover, Tink said, which would exclude the supermarket giants.

The factors exacerbating Australia’s hunger crisis include a “debilitating and incessant cost of living crisis, low-growing wages struggling, inflationary pressure, unaffordable housing, and an inadequate safety net”, Tink said.

In light of the worsening crisis, she urged the federal Government to deliver on promises to lift up all Australians, saying: “This is another way they can provide support to all Australians, particularly those who urgently need it.”

Modelled off similar concessions in the United States and Germany, Tink said the proposed offset was “not a radical idea by any means”.

“It was why the idea was brought to the Government last year … these players came back to say the offset was a game changer for them.”

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