NT food prices ‘too high and unfair’: NTCOSS

Calls for action as grocery bills in the NT revealed as some of Australia’s highest and food costs in remote NT stores soar.

Grocery prices are too high and unfair in the NT, according to the NT Council of Social Services. Picture: Erik Anderson/AAP

TERRITORIANS are being hit with some of the biggest groceries bills in the country, a report from the NT Council of Social Services (NTCOSS) has revealed.

NTCOSS has released its 24th Cost of Living Report, shining a spotlight on soaring prices for healthy foods in remote community stores and calling on governments to take action.

The report revealed Territorians are forking out the second highest expenditure on food in the country at over $250 for a weekly grocery shop.

But in remote NT communities, grocery bills are on average $319 more than in a major NT supermarket, according to the NT Government’s latest Market Basket Survey.

The report showed that in 2012, the average cost of a healthy food basket in a remote store was 22 per cent more than in a major supermarket — a gap which has grown exponentially this decade.

By 2016, that gap was 42 per cent, and by 2017, 60 per cent.

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NTCOSS policy adviser Jonathon Pilbrow said remote food prices were too high and unfair.

“That’s a huge gap of 60 per cent between healthy food costs in remote stores compared to big supermarkets in the major centres,” he said.

“This is despite major efforts in recent years to improve access to affordable food in remote areas through licensing schemes and improved store infrastructure.

“Not only is the price gap big, it’s getting bigger.”

MORE TO COME.