WEBVTT - Why are more young Aussies going hungry? 0:00:01.080 --> 0:00:03.360 My name is Lily Maddon and I'm a proud Arunda 0:00:03.600 --> 0:00:08.400 Bunjelung Calcottin woman from Gadigl Country. The Daly oz acknowledges 0:00:08.480 --> 0:00:10.639 that this podcast is recorded on the lands of the 0:00:10.680 --> 0:00:14.200 Gadighl people and pays respect to all Aboriginal and Torres 0:00:14.240 --> 0:00:17.159 Strait Island and nations. We pay our respects to the 0:00:17.160 --> 0:00:19.960 first peoples of these countries, both past and present. 0:00:25.280 --> 0:00:28.040 Good morning and welcome to the Daily OS. It's Tuesday, 0:00:28.080 --> 0:00:29.760 the twenty fourth of October. 0:00:29.800 --> 0:00:32.839 I'm Emma Gillespie, I'm Billy fit Simon's and we are 0:00:32.880 --> 0:00:35.040 filling in for Sam and Zara for a couple of 0:00:35.080 --> 0:00:37.320 days this week, but we will be back to regular 0:00:37.320 --> 0:00:39.080 programming before you know it. 0:00:39.200 --> 0:00:43.720 This week Australia's largest food relief organization, Food Bank, released 0:00:43.760 --> 0:00:47.440 its annual Hunger Report, which found three point seven million 0:00:47.479 --> 0:00:51.159 Australian households have experienced some sort of food insecurity in 0:00:51.200 --> 0:00:52.120 the past year. 0:00:52.479 --> 0:00:55.960 What we're seeing is that food has become a discretionary 0:00:55.960 --> 0:00:57.680 item and for summer luxury item. 0:00:57.920 --> 0:01:00.520 In today's deep Dive, I'm speaking with this the CEO 0:01:00.680 --> 0:01:03.800 of Food Bank Australia, to find out what food insecurity 0:01:04.040 --> 0:01:07.679 is why the number of Australians experiencing it has increased 0:01:07.959 --> 0:01:10.959 and what can be done to change that? But first, Billy, 0:01:11.040 --> 0:01:12.080 what's making headlines? 0:01:12.880 --> 0:01:15.959 First Nations leaders involved in the Yes campaign have accused 0:01:16.000 --> 0:01:19.120 Australians of committing a shameful act by voting against an 0:01:19.160 --> 0:01:22.880 Indigenous voice in the failed referendum on October fourteenth. More 0:01:22.880 --> 0:01:25.760 than sixty percent of Australians voted No in the referendum. 0:01:26.280 --> 0:01:28.840 The statement from First Nations leaders marks the end of 0:01:28.880 --> 0:01:31.800 a week of silence to mourn the result. Prime Minister 0:01:31.920 --> 0:01:35.280 Anthony Alberanezi has not yet commented on the statement. However, 0:01:35.400 --> 0:01:38.240 he did say on Friday, we respect the outcome in 0:01:38.280 --> 0:01:39.040 our democracy. 0:01:40.240 --> 0:01:43.560 Financial losses to job and employment scams have increased by 0:01:43.640 --> 0:01:46.720 seven hundred and forty percent this year, according to the 0:01:46.760 --> 0:01:51.640 National Anti Scam Center. WhatsApp, Facebook, TikTok and Instagram have 0:01:51.720 --> 0:01:56.080 become key platforms for scammers pretending to be recruiters. The 0:01:56.120 --> 0:01:58.880 government is urging people to be on high alert for 0:01:58.960 --> 0:02:02.680 scammers actually if they're looking for a job, with Australian's 0:02:02.760 --> 0:02:06.080 reporting losses of twenty million dollars already this year to 0:02:06.320 --> 0:02:07.960 employment scams. 0:02:08.280 --> 0:02:11.880 And in a Daily os exclusive, thousands of Ozzie students 0:02:11.880 --> 0:02:14.440 will have part of their hextet waived due to a 0:02:14.480 --> 0:02:18.560 record keeping technicality. Over thirteen thousand students will have a 0:02:18.600 --> 0:02:21.919 combined five point four million dollars wiped from their student 0:02:22.000 --> 0:02:24.800 debt and this is because some students were unable to 0:02:24.840 --> 0:02:28.160 see their hextet records on the ATO website, so those 0:02:28.240 --> 0:02:30.560 impacted by the error won't need to pay the amount 0:02:30.680 --> 0:02:34.040 incurred through indexation for the past four years. For more 0:02:34.040 --> 0:02:37.360 on that story, you can visit our Instagram page. 0:02:37.400 --> 0:02:41.760 And today's good news. Australia has won the International Wheelchair 0:02:41.840 --> 0:02:45.440 Rugby Cup after defeating Canada at the finals in Paris. 0:02:45.880 --> 0:02:49.600 After losing to Canada in the opening game, Australia finished 0:02:49.600 --> 0:02:52.760 on top. What comeback. Riley Batt was one of the 0:02:52.800 --> 0:02:56.480 standout players for the Aussies in the fifty three forty 0:02:56.560 --> 0:03:05.119 eight win. Nearly four million Australian homes experienced food insecurity 0:03:05.160 --> 0:03:08.520 in the past year. That's according to Food Bank's annual 0:03:08.600 --> 0:03:12.280 Hunger Report, which published its latest findings this week. Brianna 0:03:12.440 --> 0:03:15.520 Case is the CEO of Food Bank Australia and she 0:03:15.600 --> 0:03:19.000 joins US Now to talk about these findings. Briana, welcome 0:03:19.040 --> 0:03:21.360 to the pod. Before we get into it, though, for 0:03:21.480 --> 0:03:23.720 those who are listening who might not be familiar with 0:03:23.800 --> 0:03:26.640 the concept, what is food insecurity? 0:03:26.840 --> 0:03:30.400 Food insecurity is essentially a spectrum. It can start with 0:03:30.560 --> 0:03:33.200 feeling anxious or worried about whether or not you've got 0:03:33.280 --> 0:03:35.360 enough money to actually put a meal on the table, 0:03:35.880 --> 0:03:38.760 through to the more moderate form of food in security, 0:03:38.800 --> 0:03:42.560 which is about making compromises on the type and quantity 0:03:42.560 --> 0:03:45.880 of food that you're eating, right through to severe food insecurity, 0:03:45.920 --> 0:03:49.560 which is skipping meals or going entire days without eating. 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:53.320 And the reality is right now three point seven million 0:03:53.360 --> 0:03:56.480 households across Australia have experienced food and security in the 0:03:56.560 --> 0:03:59.440 last twelve months, and to put that into perspective, that's 0:03:59.560 --> 0:04:01.800 more than the total number of households in Melbourne and 0:04:01.840 --> 0:04:02.720 Sydney combined. 0:04:03.080 --> 0:04:07.360 That is a really significant number. How do those findings 0:04:07.600 --> 0:04:11.480 differ from previous years? Have you seen any big changes 0:04:11.520 --> 0:04:14.160 in the twenty twenty three findings we have? 0:04:14.320 --> 0:04:17.600 This year is quite different for a number of reasons. One, 0:04:17.640 --> 0:04:21.039 we've seen a three hundred and eighty three thousand household 0:04:21.279 --> 0:04:24.560 increase in the number of households experiencing food and security, 0:04:24.600 --> 0:04:28.400 so a very very significant jump, but also a very 0:04:28.440 --> 0:04:32.080 significant change in what food in security looks like and 0:04:32.160 --> 0:04:35.440 who's experiencing it. What we've seen with this year's Food 0:04:35.440 --> 0:04:39.000 Bank Hunger Report is that seventy seven percent of households 0:04:39.279 --> 0:04:42.760 are experiencing food and security for the very first time, 0:04:43.279 --> 0:04:46.160 and they skew younger. So we're seeing more and more 0:04:46.200 --> 0:04:48.960 people under the age of forty five. We're seeing people 0:04:49.000 --> 0:04:51.760 who are employed. In fact, sixty percent of food and 0:04:51.760 --> 0:04:55.120 secure households have a job. And we're also seeing food 0:04:55.120 --> 0:04:57.960 and security impacting mid to high income earners. So this 0:04:58.080 --> 0:05:00.480 notion that a job is a shield again food and 0:05:00.520 --> 0:05:03.279 security in Australia, we've shot that to pieces. 0:05:03.600 --> 0:05:05.279 Yeah, I want to talk a little bit about that 0:05:05.400 --> 0:05:09.039 group of people, you know, younger people, people on decent 0:05:09.279 --> 0:05:13.839 in inverticoma's incomes being in this report for the first time, 0:05:14.440 --> 0:05:18.360 How has cost of living impacted food in security in Australia. 0:05:19.480 --> 0:05:22.320 What we've seen this year is that for the vast majority, 0:05:22.320 --> 0:05:25.919 about eighty percent of households, it is the cost of 0:05:25.960 --> 0:05:29.400 living crisis. What we're seeing with hunger in Australia is 0:05:29.440 --> 0:05:32.360 the harsh realities of what the cost of living crisis 0:05:32.400 --> 0:05:35.159 looks like in the home, and it's not hard to 0:05:35.279 --> 0:05:38.240 understand why. We know that a third of people with 0:05:38.279 --> 0:05:41.640 a mortgage are now experiencing some level of food in security, 0:05:41.720 --> 0:05:44.720 and we know that half of renters are experiencing food 0:05:44.760 --> 0:05:47.320 and security as well. So when we look at housing 0:05:47.320 --> 0:05:50.920 and homelessness, when we look at utilities costs, when we 0:05:50.960 --> 0:05:54.960 look at the cost of buying food and groceries, transport costs, 0:05:54.960 --> 0:05:57.880 petrol costs, it all adds up. And the reality is 0:05:58.360 --> 0:06:00.680 what we might have been able to cover with one 0:06:00.720 --> 0:06:03.680 income before, we're now needing one and a half two 0:06:03.800 --> 0:06:07.640 incomes to cover. What we are seeing and hearing increasingly 0:06:07.680 --> 0:06:11.040 at food bank is people working a full time, as 0:06:11.080 --> 0:06:13.880 you said, a good job during the day, but they're 0:06:13.920 --> 0:06:16.440 having to work a side hustle at night. It's often 0:06:16.440 --> 0:06:21.320 in the gig economy because unfortunately, when your expenses are 0:06:21.320 --> 0:06:24.440 outpacing your income, it's not hard to do the math. 0:06:24.520 --> 0:06:27.320 So what we're seeing is that food has become a 0:06:27.400 --> 0:06:29.839 discretionary item and for some a luxury item. 0:06:30.279 --> 0:06:33.640 How does that impact the rest of people's lives. What's 0:06:33.680 --> 0:06:37.679 the flow on effect of not knowing for certain whether 0:06:37.720 --> 0:06:41.479 you can put food on the table, you know, psychologically, physically, 0:06:41.920 --> 0:06:43.440 how does that impact everyone. 0:06:43.720 --> 0:06:46.720 There's a few things that are deeply concerning us this year. 0:06:46.839 --> 0:06:50.040 One is that we know about half of those experiencing 0:06:50.080 --> 0:06:54.720 food and security have reduced their consumption and purchasing of 0:06:54.800 --> 0:06:58.040 fresh fruit and vegetables and protein. So when we think 0:06:58.080 --> 0:07:02.200 about the health and dietary nutrition implications of this, I'm 0:07:02.240 --> 0:07:04.960 really concerned about what that means from a physical health 0:07:05.000 --> 0:07:07.760 point of view. And let's bear in mind those half 0:07:07.800 --> 0:07:10.040 who've reduced it are coming from a low base, so 0:07:10.040 --> 0:07:13.960 we're already only accessing the smallest amount. But also, as 0:07:13.960 --> 0:07:18.160 you indicated, the mental health implications here are really significant. 0:07:18.720 --> 0:07:21.920 And when you are dealing with this feeling and the 0:07:22.000 --> 0:07:25.520 pit of your stomach not only hunger, but also this 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:28.480 worry and anxiety about whether or not you're going to 0:07:28.480 --> 0:07:32.240 be able to eat today, tomorrow, next week, and when 0:07:32.240 --> 0:07:36.200 we are talking about younger households, what's concerning me at 0:07:36.200 --> 0:07:39.640 the moment is younger households with young children who are 0:07:39.640 --> 0:07:44.720 living in now quite vulnerable circumstances, and the guilt associated 0:07:44.800 --> 0:07:47.280 with not being able to provide for your young child 0:07:47.400 --> 0:07:50.240 is huge, and it's one of the reasons We are 0:07:50.280 --> 0:07:54.600 trying so hard at Food Bank to highlight that we 0:07:54.720 --> 0:07:57.320 are here to help you. Food Bank is here. It's 0:07:57.400 --> 0:08:01.400 what we do best. And what absolutely crushes my spirit 0:08:01.840 --> 0:08:04.600 is when I hear people who are not reaching out 0:08:04.680 --> 0:08:07.440 and asking for food relief when they so clearly need 0:08:07.520 --> 0:08:11.280 it because a they're embarrassed or worried or ashamed, or 0:08:11.360 --> 0:08:13.920 b they think someone else deserves it more than they do. 0:08:14.360 --> 0:08:17.240 I'm here to tell you if you can't afford to 0:08:17.320 --> 0:08:20.760 put a meal on the table routinely, you need food relief. 0:08:20.760 --> 0:08:23.440 And it's precisely why we're here. And it's as simple 0:08:23.440 --> 0:08:26.440 as jumping on our website, clicking a fine food button 0:08:26.480 --> 0:08:28.320 and you will find food relief near you. 0:08:28.880 --> 0:08:31.800 Are you finding, especially with the amount of young people 0:08:31.800 --> 0:08:34.920 that we've seen in these findings this year, are you 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:37.800 worried about that stigma continuing on? 0:08:38.800 --> 0:08:41.440 We are. We know when we look at who is 0:08:41.520 --> 0:08:44.240 experiencing hunger in Australia, we know that only about a 0:08:44.320 --> 0:08:48.280 quarter or actively reaching out to formal food relief organizations 0:08:48.360 --> 0:08:51.199 like Food Bank. We know about a third are reaching 0:08:51.240 --> 0:08:54.520 out to family, friends, loved ones, neighbors for help. But 0:08:54.559 --> 0:08:57.800 there's a half sitting out there not getting any help 0:08:57.840 --> 0:09:00.720 at all, and we need to make sure we break 0:09:00.760 --> 0:09:03.920 down some of these barriers to what's stopping people accessing 0:09:03.960 --> 0:09:07.320 food relief. Absolutely, shame and stigma is part of it, 0:09:07.360 --> 0:09:09.720 and I really hope that conversations like the one we're 0:09:09.720 --> 0:09:13.880 having right now help people understand there's no shame or 0:09:13.880 --> 0:09:17.480 stigma here. Life gets in the way for everyone, and 0:09:17.520 --> 0:09:20.120 I think if we think back to COVID, we all 0:09:20.160 --> 0:09:23.680 knew someone who lost hours, lost employment, had something happen 0:09:24.080 --> 0:09:26.720 through no fault of your own, and you found yourself 0:09:26.720 --> 0:09:30.480 in really difficult circumstances. Right now, the demand for food 0:09:30.520 --> 0:09:32.800 relief is higher than it was at the height of COVID. 0:09:33.160 --> 0:09:35.120 So if you think you're alone here, I'm here to 0:09:35.160 --> 0:09:38.120 tell you you're not. We are fast approaching a scenario 0:09:38.559 --> 0:09:42.599 where one into Australian households will know what food insecurity 0:09:42.720 --> 0:09:46.559 means and is because it's touched them themselves. And it's 0:09:46.600 --> 0:09:50.840 important to recognize this isn't happening every day for many people. 0:09:50.880 --> 0:09:53.000 This might be a one off. It might be every 0:09:53.040 --> 0:09:55.240 now and then. It might be those final three or 0:09:55.280 --> 0:09:59.280 four days before payday when you suddenly realize you can't 0:09:59.320 --> 0:10:02.160 go out for lunch. With your office mates because you 0:10:02.200 --> 0:10:04.640 don't have the funds to do that, where you might 0:10:04.720 --> 0:10:07.800 be grabbing some morning tea in the tea room because 0:10:07.840 --> 0:10:09.840 that's going to be your only meal that day. That 0:10:10.000 --> 0:10:12.880 is food insecurity. That is happening to an increasing number 0:10:12.880 --> 0:10:15.520 of people, and you need food relief and that's what 0:10:15.520 --> 0:10:16.120 we're here for. 0:10:16.440 --> 0:10:19.720 Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. 0:10:20.559 --> 0:10:23.520 Is this a trend being seen elsewhere or is the 0:10:23.559 --> 0:10:27.200 situation particularly bad here and why would that be? 0:10:28.160 --> 0:10:31.200 It is definitely something that shocks people to think that 0:10:31.360 --> 0:10:33.959 right here in the lucky country, we've got three point 0:10:34.000 --> 0:10:37.440 seven million households who at some point haven't known where 0:10:37.440 --> 0:10:40.959 their next meal was coming from. It's also quite confronting 0:10:41.040 --> 0:10:43.439 when we think about the fact that each and every 0:10:43.520 --> 0:10:46.360 year we produce enough food in this country to feed 0:10:46.400 --> 0:10:50.280 our population three times over, yet we've got a hunger problem. 0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:53.640 We also have a food waste problem. Incidentally, it's costing 0:10:53.679 --> 0:10:57.160 our economy thirty six point six billion dollars each year, 0:10:57.280 --> 0:11:01.040 and seventy percent of the food that is wasted is 0:11:01.200 --> 0:11:06.240 perfectly edible. So we've got this ridiculous situation where we 0:11:06.320 --> 0:11:09.360 have enough food but it's not getting to the right places. 0:11:09.720 --> 0:11:12.600 And when we do look globally, yes, unfortunately we are 0:11:12.600 --> 0:11:16.280 seeing food in security reaching rates it never has before 0:11:16.559 --> 0:11:19.920 in both developed and developing nations. But when we look 0:11:20.040 --> 0:11:24.599 at the geopolitical landscape right now, my food banking counterparts 0:11:24.640 --> 0:11:27.679 in the Middle East, my food banking counterparts in Northern America, 0:11:27.880 --> 0:11:31.360 they're seeing very similar challenges to us right now. But 0:11:31.480 --> 0:11:35.000 there are various different policies and laws that can help 0:11:35.080 --> 0:11:38.440 alleviate food and security and then address it. And we've 0:11:38.480 --> 0:11:42.040 been very strident with government in highlighting the fact that 0:11:42.080 --> 0:11:44.760 the evidence is clear. We have a Food Bank Hunger 0:11:44.800 --> 0:11:47.880 Report that shows what rates of food and security we 0:11:47.960 --> 0:11:50.600 have in Australia and what we can do about it, 0:11:50.679 --> 0:11:54.079 because denying that we have a hunger problem is not 0:11:54.160 --> 0:11:56.040 going to help us fix it. 0:11:56.080 --> 0:11:59.280 Is there a way to simultaneously tackle both of these issues? 0:11:59.320 --> 0:12:01.040 You know this in normal most amount of food that's 0:12:01.080 --> 0:12:04.920 being wasted, paired with all of these Australians who are 0:12:04.920 --> 0:12:05.640 going hungry. 0:12:06.160 --> 0:12:09.120 Yes, and it's precisely what Food Bank does best. We 0:12:09.160 --> 0:12:12.800 work really closely with farmers, manufacturers and our retailers to 0:12:12.960 --> 0:12:16.360 rescue food that we know is perfectly edible and delicious. 0:12:16.440 --> 0:12:19.200 Quite often it doesn't look quite right. It might be 0:12:19.240 --> 0:12:22.560 the wonky fruit and vegetables that you see. We're talking 0:12:22.600 --> 0:12:24.800 about tomatoes that are the wrong shade of red and 0:12:24.840 --> 0:12:27.400 cucumbers that are a bit bendy. I don't care what 0:12:27.520 --> 0:12:30.120 they look like. They are still going to deliver wonderfully 0:12:30.160 --> 0:12:33.480 nutritious food. But only about seventy percent of our total 0:12:33.480 --> 0:12:36.720 food relief volumes that food make comes through that food rescue. 0:12:36.840 --> 0:12:39.840 The remainder we actually have to buy because when you 0:12:39.960 --> 0:12:42.520 work as we do in a surprise chain rather than 0:12:42.520 --> 0:12:44.920 a supply chain, we never know what we're going to 0:12:44.920 --> 0:12:47.360 have donated to us day in, day out. But there 0:12:47.400 --> 0:12:50.040 are certain products we need to have available year round. 0:12:50.400 --> 0:12:53.040 And when we know that fifty percent of people are 0:12:53.040 --> 0:12:56.680 reducing they're purchasing of fresh fruit and vegetables and protein, 0:12:57.120 --> 0:12:59.480 we know very clearly we're going to have to secure 0:12:59.520 --> 0:13:01.920 a lot more of both of those products, in particular 0:13:02.280 --> 0:13:04.080 to make sure that we can help people through this 0:13:04.160 --> 0:13:05.199 really tricky period. 0:13:05.800 --> 0:13:08.520 We might have people listening right now who are feeling 0:13:08.800 --> 0:13:12.200 like they do need the help that you've described. What 0:13:12.320 --> 0:13:14.160 can they do, What are the next steps for them 0:13:14.200 --> 0:13:16.800 to take? And then similarly, you know, we might have 0:13:16.840 --> 0:13:19.400 people listening who really want to help. What can they 0:13:19.480 --> 0:13:20.600 do in this situation? 0:13:21.440 --> 0:13:23.960 First port of call to answer both of those questions 0:13:24.040 --> 0:13:26.520 is to go to Foodbank dot org DODAU. If you 0:13:26.559 --> 0:13:28.280 are in need of food relief, click on a big 0:13:28.320 --> 0:13:30.959 button that says find food. It is as simple as that. 0:13:31.040 --> 0:13:33.320 Pop in your postcode and it will spit out some 0:13:33.400 --> 0:13:36.400 answers around where you can access food relief. And likewise, 0:13:36.440 --> 0:13:38.679 if you're in a position to donate, there's a donate 0:13:38.720 --> 0:13:42.400 now button. Every dollar donated is two meals created, and 0:13:42.440 --> 0:13:45.680 there has never been a more important time to support 0:13:45.760 --> 0:13:48.120 the community. I know that for many listeners out there 0:13:48.120 --> 0:13:50.080 they're not in a position to do that right now, 0:13:50.360 --> 0:13:53.160 but for those who are, please know you are going 0:13:53.200 --> 0:13:56.160 to be changing lives through that donation. And we are 0:13:56.200 --> 0:13:58.200 so proud of the work that we do at Food 0:13:58.240 --> 0:13:59.880 Bank that we can't do it without you. So to 0:14:00.160 --> 0:14:03.559 everyone who has been supporting us, whether that be through time, 0:14:03.640 --> 0:14:06.480 treasure or talent, thank you. We're so grateful. 0:14:09.280 --> 0:14:11.720 Thank you so much for joining us on the daily OS. 0:14:11.800 --> 0:14:14.640 And before you go, it would be so helpful if 0:14:14.640 --> 0:14:16.600 you could press follow on the app that you are 0:14:16.600 --> 0:14:19.760 currently listening to this podcast on It really helps us 0:14:19.760 --> 0:14:22.760 grow and it helps new people find us. We'll be 0:14:22.840 --> 0:14:25.320 back again tomorrow, but until then, have a great day.