Indigenous communities call for freight subsidies to ease grocery costs
Indigenous communities on Queensland‘s Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait are calling on the state government to introduce a freight subsidy to help ease the cost of fresh food and groceries.
Indigenous communities on Queensland’s Cape York Peninsula and Torres Strait are calling on the state government to introduce a freight subsidy to help ease the cost of fresh food and groceries.
Record inflation and significant flooding across far north Queensland through the wet season have caused the cost of household staples to skyrocket in recent months.
Mornington Island mayor Kyle Yanner said a grocery shop in his community costs about 66 per cent more than it would in Cairns, with the ingredients for tacos to feed six people costing $180. Body wash and cereal prices are significantly higher, with powdered milk retailing for $16 and coffee upwards of $30.
He and other community leaders agree this problem is largely due to the region’s reliance on freight to bring goods into remote regions, made more expensive when the major roadway, the Peninsula Development Road, is cut and air and sea freight is necessary.
Torres Cape Indigenous Council Alliance (TCICA) chairman and mayor of Kowanyama Aboriginal Shire Council Robbie Sands said rising costs have forced remote communities to reach breaking point.
“We can’t continue to go on like this without government intervention,” Mr Sands said.
“All this talk of Closing the Gap and Path to Treaty is meaningless unless there is a proper attempt by both levels of government to front up and listen to what we are telling them.”
A report published last month by TCICA found a freight subsidy scheme valued between $28m and $43m annually – the equivalent of current costs to move products between Cairns and six communities in the region – would improve health outcomes by providing greater access to fresh produce and essentials.
Mr Yanner said that without support to make it easier to access healthy food and hygiene products such as toothpaste and body wash, First Nations people will pay with their lives.
“Doctors say you pay for now, or you pay for it later in medical costs.” he said.
“A subsidy is not economic to drive competition, it’s to drive a healthy lifestyle.”
A Queensland parliamentary committee inquiry into coastal sea freight in 2014 recommended a state-funded subsidy to remote island communities but the government didn’t support it. The idea was raised again in 2019.
Communities through Western Australia’s Kimberley Region have called for similar measures following freight costs tripling in some cases and operators ceasing operations along routes. Mr Sands said pleas for support have been falling on “deaf ears”.
“We have put the hard work in to cost a freight equalisation scheme and want to see it delivered immediately,” he said.
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