‘System broken’: Charities turn away more than 74,000 a month as food crisis bites

Australian charities say they are being overwhelmed by demand for food relief, turning away more than 74,000 people each month as rising costs fuel what advocates describe as a “cost of surviving” crisis.

A survey by food rescue group OzHarvest of 875 frontline organisations found they fed more than 350,000 people per month in the year to March 2026, with more than half of respondents in every state and territory reporting higher demand.

OzHarvest founder Ronni Kahn said the need has only intensified since 2023, when the Australian Bureau of Statistics reported food insecurity—uncertainty about access to safe, adequate food—affected one in eight households and one in three single-parent households.

“Cost of surviving really says it all, because I think we’re in crisis,” Kahn said. “Our food system is broken... people don’t actually want to believe what is happening.” On the frontline in Brisbane, Stepping Stones North has watched even low-cost options slip from reach.

“I’ve noticed even that $5 meal is becoming a little bit expensive for people if they’re coming in regularly,” the charity’s leader, Jacqui Gillespie, said. “We heavily rely on that weekly donation (from OzHarvest), and we get it Thursday and it’s gone... by Friday.” She said the premium on healthy food means tight budgets often push people toward poorer nutrition, with knock-on effects for health and daily life.

Economists expect further pressure at the checkout. Rabobank senior research analyst Michael Harvey said conflict in the Middle East is driving up fertiliser costs, which flow through to higher prices for fresh produce and dairy. “There’s no doubt it’s going to have an impact on food pricing because you’ve got...

an immediate spike in the cost of production, not just on farm, but... downstream as well,” he said. Bad weather in northern Australia and rising processing and distribution costs for packaged foods are compounding the squeeze beyond milk, fruit and vegetables, he added.

Harvey said price relief could be slow, even if conditions stabilise. “Things might normalise quickly on farm in terms of cost of production, but it’ll be a lag process before consumers see it,” he said, adding that prices may not fall back to pre-conflict levels.

In Melbourne, charity operations manager Shay Fullee said the impact is visible at street level. “New people, new faces, people who may not have accessed services previously are now having to reach out,” she said. “There’s a lot more demand now than we can supply, to be honest.” The strain is forcing her organisation to top up donated meals with more supermarket-bought food, stretching already tight budgets.

OzHarvest has urged the federal government to elevate food security on the national agenda, but Kahn said she is not optimistic. A National Food Security Strategy, announced in July 2025, is not expected to take shape until mid-2027. In the meantime, charities say demand continues to outpace supply, leaving more families without reliable access to nutritious food.