Who decides who goes hungry in Queensland and who gets to eat?

The van’s deep boot is stacked with trays of food: loaves of sourdough, fruit and vegetables, canned goods, and cakes.

“All that bread, everything, it’s still good to eat,” says Paul Slater, founder of Northwest Community Group. “But if no one collects it, it would all end up in the bin.”

The rest of the night is spent distributing the food to street pantries scattered across the city: West End, Stones Corner, Yeronga and New Farm.

The street pantry outside the Brunswick Hotel in New Farm’s Brunswick Street.Credit: Northwest Community Group

A coveted spread of items is saved for the final stop on Brunswick Street. This, Paul says, is the most in-demand street pantry.

I’m adding a colourful birthday cake to one of the shelves when a guy in high-vis workwear bounds out of the Brunswick Hotel and does a double take.

“Excuse me, what’s this?” he says.

I explain the concept; people can donate food, or take what they need.

“Do you mind if I have these?” he asks, before leaving with a six-pack of cheese-and-bacon rolls.

Slater started making these food runs in 2023. SecondBite, the food rescue charity that facilitates donations, estimates 17,964 kilograms of food has been salvaged through its partnership with Northwest this year.

Most surprising isn’t just the volume of food being recovered, but the people accessing goods from street pantries.

Key Queensland statistics:

• Nearly 700,000 Queensland households have experienced food insecurity in the past 12 months, meaning they aren’t eating quality, variety, or desirable food.
• One in five Queensland households have experienced severe food insecurity in the past 12 months, meaning they are reducing serving sizes or skipping meals.
• Almost half (44%) of Queensland’s low-income households (earning less than $30,000 a year) are experiencing food insecurity.
• More than one in five (22%) Queensland households with an income of more than $95,000 are food insecure.
• More than one in four (26%) of mortgage holders in Queensland experienced food insecurity in the past 12 months.
• Food insecurity is being felt more acutely in regional areas (36%) compared to metropolitan areas (28%).
• Awareness of food support in Queensland is growing, with 47% of vulnerable households knowing where to seek food relief in the past 12 months, compared to 36% in 2023.

“It’s more common for people that are living in social housing and on very low incomes [than unhoused individuals],” Slater explains. “And the demand is just constant.”

This week, Queensland’s peak hunger relief charity, Foodbank, released its annual Hunger Report in line with Anti-Poverty Week. It found one in five Queensland households experienced severe food insecurity in the past year, with low-income earners and regional areas the worst hit.

Foodbank Queensland chief executive Jess Watkinson says it’s seeing an unprecedented surge in demand for food assistance, driven by the cost of living and natural disasters.

“The demographics are definitely changing. More and more working families with dual income and good jobs are needing help due to the cost of living,” she says.

Foodbank Queensland chief executive Jess Watkinson (second from right) at a community lunch in West End for the launch of the 2024 Hunger Report during Anti-Poverty Week, October 13 to 19.Credit: Courtney Kruk

“People are accessing services who have never accessed food relief services before.”

Foodbank is a business-to-business model, catering to more than 350 member organisations around Queensland. It’s calling on the government for a dedicated minister for food to meet the state’s escalating food insecurity crisis and ensure the issue remains a top priority.

“It’s about bringing the right people together to look at what the causal factors of food insecurity are,” Watkinson says. “As a state that produces three times more food than it needs, how do we have hungry people?”

On Sunday, Labor announced it would provide free school lunches to every state primary school student if re-elected on October 26. The initiative would cost about $1.4 billion, but would save parents $1600 a year per child.

Foodbank Queensland volunteers at the food distribution warehouse in Brisbane. Credit: @foodbankqld

“It’s universal to avoid stigmatising the kids who need the food most, but also to ensure that it supports every Queensland family too,” Premier Steven Miles said.

Not everyone agrees that the initiative is savvy financial planning. If the golden rule of managing household budgets is not to borrow money to pay for basic needs, Miles has broken it, funding the policy through increased government debt.

Some also think it’s a parent’s responsibility to feed their kids, not the government.

Speaking to 4BC on Monday, LNP deputy leader Jarrod Bleijie ruled out free lunches for hungry children if his party were elected on October 26, labelling the policy “bizarre” and a reinforcement of “reckless” Labor spending.

Former Queensland premier Campbell Newman was equally dismissive of the idea, asking on social media why people should pay for the “free” lunch of other people’s children. Given that the replies mostly ranged from “it takes a special kind of stupid to brag about being an asshole” to “geez you’re a wanker Campbell”, his take was not as hot as he hoped.

During the second leaders’ debate on Wednesday, Opposition Leader David Crisafulli doubled down on the LNP’s stance, saying: “I’m not prepared to borrow approximately $2 billion for burgers at schools.”

So whose responsibility is it to ensure Queenslanders aren’t going hungry and resources are being spread across all levels of society? Is it up to the government or individuals to make ends meet – and at what cost?

No social issue sits in isolation. Food insecurity isn’t just about a few people going hungry. It’s about individuals and households deciding whether they can afford rent or groceries. It influences health, crime and social outcomes. It’s the result of multiple factors and increasing pressures.

As more people face financial insecurity, volunteers and organisations like Paul and Foodbank step in to help – often on their own dime. And they are already stretched so thin.

How does the saying go? When you’re not doing so well, vote for a better life for yourself. If you are doing quite nicely, vote for a better life for others.

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