According to Foodbank’s annual hunger report a significant number of Australians are going hungry with 2.3m households “severely food insecure”, actively going hungry, reducing food intake, skipping meals or going days without eating in the past 12 months. The number of households experiencing “food insecurity” over the past 12 months has increased 350,000 compared to the year before. The biggest driver of food insecurity is the cost-of-living crisis according to 79% of households, up from 64% in 2022 while 42% of households attributed food insecurity to reduced or low-income employment and inadequate welfare payments. More than 60% of food insecure households has someone in paid employment.

Foodbank Australia CEO Brianna Casey said the country is in the middle of a food security crisis with 77% of people experiencing food insecurity for the first time. This experiencing food insecurity for the first time are increasingly metro, middle-income, employed and either have a mortgage or are renting. Households experiencing chronic food insecurity is stable at 750,000.