Staggering cost of food in SA’s APY Lands ‘unreasonable’, Liberal Senator says

$3 a litre for fuel. Two chops for $27. Two litres of milk for $8.50. And forget lettuce. For some people in the APY Lands it’s steal or starve.

Groceries are so expensive in the APY Lands that some residents are starving and others are stealing food from stores to feed themselves.

A weekly grocery shop is costing some families $600, ­including $8.50 for two litres of milk and $12.60 for a head of lettuce.

Fregon resident Kieran Roberts told The Advertiser that families also could not afford to hunt for food because petrol was too expensive.

“It’s like two chops in the packet for about $27,” he said.

“In one house, you have about six or seven people who are struggling.

“We also can’t afford to travel and go out and hunt ­because petrol is almost $3 a litre.”

Mr Roberts said it was not unusual for break-ins to happen at the local store because people could not afford food and were “starving”.

In Pukatja and Fregon, the local stores are owned and operated by supplier Mai Wiru, which has six outlets across the APY Lands and has been operating there since 2003.

APY Lands general manager Richard King said he had noticed the cost of living had risen in the past four years since the start of the pandemic.

The cost for food in the APY Lands is staggering. Green capsicum at $14.52 a kg, and red capsicum $16.13. Picture: Supplied.

“(During) the period of COVID, we’ve seen prices slowly rising due to a few factors in terms of freight and the remoteness of the area,” he said.

The cost for a head of iceberg lettuce at $12.60. Picture: Supplied.

“The cost of living has always been high in remote Australia, but I have noticed that in the last couple of years that it has risen – but you could say the same about the cities.

“I’m not too sure what the situation is in terms of if they (the products) are subsidised but if they are subsidised, I’d expect the prices to be a little more close to what you see in the city.”

Liberal senator Kerrynne Liddle travelled to the remote communities of Pukatja, Fregon and Mimili this week and met with locals who told her about their cost-of-living problems.

“It wasn’t just what we saw, it was what people were telling us,” Senator Liddle said.

“People up there are constantly talked about and they believe that the prices were too high and unjustified even though it was a remote area.

“They felt that paying $8.50 for a two-litre carton of milk and paying $12.60 for a head of lettuce was unreasonable.

“I understand and I appreciate there’s a difference in price because of transport, but that (the prices) seems unreasonable.”

Assistant Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy said many Australians were struggling with the cost of living but the “pressures” were most acutely felt in remote communities such as the APY Lands.

In the APY Lands, the average weekly income per person per week is $324, while the ­average household weekly ­income is $1266.

Mai Wiru was contacted for comment.