While a number of submissions have been made from food producers and community organisations, like the VFF, many submissions have come from ordinary people describing in graphic detail how they are missing meals because of the cost.
The Legislative Council Legal and Social Issues Committee is inquiring into drivers of and solutions for food insecurity in Victoria including its impact on physical and mental health and poverty and hardship.
From one of the submissions:
“My name is Sarah and I’m 30 years old. I have worked full-time in retail for 13 years and currently work as a visual merchandiser. I earn $62,000 a year and still cannot afford to eat three meals a day. I skip breakfast because I cannot afford it and try to load up on roast vegetables for dinner since they are the only relatively affordable thing available. On top of food, I have to pick one or two ‘major’ things to buy each pay and then wait for the next pay to buy another.”
From another submission:
“The cost of groceries in this country is astronomical. I now shop almost exclusively at Aldi, and only go to Coles or Woolworths for things I can’t get at Aldi. I am frequently amazed that the three or four things I’m forced to buy at Coles or Woolworths, totals nearly the cost of my entire weekly grocery shop at Aldi.”
Some of the submissions blame the big two supermarkets for the cost of food, pointing to the billion dollar plus profits recently announced.
“It is irresponsible, unethical and unacceptable that supermarkets can create a situation where people can't afford basic groceries. Fresh fruit, vegetables and whatever else people like to eat should not be a luxury, and it should be illegal to price gouge without any consequences. They shouldn't be able to commit daylight robbery while we work away like fools, just to afford three meals a day,” a submission said.
Woolworths told the inquiry over the past four years, prices for food and non-alcoholic beverages increased in Australia by 18.8 per cent, which is lower than New Zealand, the United Kingdom, Canada and the United States, as well as the European Union, where prices increased between 23 and 31 per cent.
The company emphasised there was strong competition between supermarkets in Victoria.
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