Council
17 May, 2024
Food relief funding allocated
LAST week’s announcement by the state government of a $1.5 million injection into regional food hubs has been welcomed by Member for South West Coast, Roma Britnell.
After extensive lobbying to ensure the government understood regional Victorians were hungry and struggling too, Ms Britnell said the funds would be well utilised by groups such as Foodshare.
“I know that no-one has worked harder than Western District Foodshare to see this result and I have been with them every step of the way, advocating directly to the Minister and through the parliament, highlighting the need for certainty of funding,” Ms Britnell said.
She called on the government in parliament last November to provide a commitment of ongoing equitable funding to regional food relief organisations, such as Western District Foodshare, so that country Victorians can be assured of the necessities, such as food, when they are in need.
“Food insecurity is a very real problem in our state, rising from five per cent in 2011 to eight per cent in 2020 and a staggering 23 per cent in 2022,” Ms Britnell said.
“With the cost of living now at crisis point I am told that families and individuals who have never before had to rely on support from food services are reaching out to groups such as Food Share to help feed their families.”
She believes that without the efforts of Food Share, thousands of people in South-West Coast would go hungry.
“The detail we need to see here is whether government support will be made ongoing,” she said.
“I know that in the last Budget the state government actually tried to decrease the funding given to regional food relief agencies while at the same time continuing to support the metro counterparts. It was again, due to extensive lobbying that funds continued over the last 12 months.
“The work of groups such as Food Share is vital and they shouldn’t have to keep singing for their supper. We need the certainty of reliable funding so that Food Share can ensure they will be able to keep providing food relief for our community into the future.”
