A BORDER group says the federal government is overlooking regional food rescue after $1.2 million funding went to city-based charities.
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Albury Wodonga Regional FoodShare has invited Environment and Energy Minister Josh Frydenberg to visit its facility and learn about its 50 per cent increase in demand over the past three years.
The minister’s office confirmed on Friday the invitation had been received and was being considered.
Mr Frydenberg announced in May four organisations based in Sydney, Melbourne and Geelong would share in money for a food rescue charities program.
The scheme aimed to help food rescuers lower energy costs, increase storage capacity and reduce the amount of food going to landfill.
FoodShare manager Peter Matthews praised this commitment but said regional Australia had been ignored.
“We don’t get any government support, federal government money at all and it’s always been an issue for us,” he said. “We operate off the smell of an oily rag over a much bigger territory than our city counterparts. Only local donations, our own fundraising efforts and the fantastic generosity of our local volunteers keep us going.
“And then when that press release came out about supporting environmental issues around food rescue we thought, ‘Bloody hell, we’ve missed out again’.”
A Department of Environment and Energy spokeswoman said the grant recipients of the food rescue charities program distributed rescued food to more than 1300 regional charities throughout Australia.
But Mr Matthews felt the government did not fully appreciate the regional situation.
“There’s a gap in the understanding, and I don’t think it’s intentional, I think it’s just not understanding the need in regional areas, particularly large regional communities like Albury-Wodonga,” he said. “We’d just like the minister to come down and say ‘G’day, show us what you do’ and maybe do some learning as well.”
Albury Wodonga Regional FoodShare shares food equating to 1.3 million meals each year across more than 90 welfare agencies, 21 schools and eight neighbourhood centres.
The department spokeswoman said a national food waste strategy would also be developed.
“The government is currently engaging with food rescue organisations, industry, governments and academics to look at how it can reach a 50 per cent reduction in food waste by 2030,” she said. “Input from all of these stakeholders will help identify opportunities to reduce food waste across the entire food supply chain in Australia’s cities and its regional areas.”
