Feeding Australia will set out a long-term plan for how the nation grows, produces and accesses food.
The Who Decides Food? campaign aims to ensure the National Food Council delivers a plan that makes Australia’s food system healthier, fairer and focused on delivering for everyday Australians — from policy, to paddock, to plate.
The launch of the campaign follows a new global Lancet series on the negative health and environmental impacts of ultra-processed foods.
The series, which includes a number of Australian co-authors such as Dr Phil Baker from the University of Sydney School of Public Health, exposes the long-term impact ultra-processed foods are having on our collective health, health system and the detrimental influence of multi-national corporations on food and public health policies.
Macdoch Foundation chief executive officer Michelle Gortan said for too long, decisions about food had been shaped by the profit maximisation aims of multi-national corporations and vested interests, while long-term health outcomes were being ignored.
“Industrial systems that overprocess and over-extract have been rewarded, while the interests of people and the places that grow, make and share real food have been sidelined,” she said.
“The food that is being marketed to us is driving chronic disease, negative environmental outcomes and growing inequality.
“Delivering a meaningful food plan that truly puts people, including farmers, health and the environment at the centre of Australia’s food future will be the National Food Council’s biggest test.”
Food Connect Foundation co-chief executive officer Emma-Kate Rose said the new National Food Council must rise to the challenge and deliver a strategy that put people’s health, fairness and the environment first.
“If we get this right, the new strategy can do more than secure our food system. It can build a healthier nation, more resilient, ethical supply chains and a fairer future for generations to come,” she said.
Food Ladder chief executive officer and co-founder Kelly McJannett said the National Food Council had a big responsibility on its plate in guiding the development of Australia’s national food strategy.
“Food security is a crucial component of this — access to healthy and affordable food is imperative to the wellbeing and positive development of all Australian children,” she said.
Sustainable Table co-chief executive officer Jade Miles said farmers should be leading the way.
“We have amazing farmers and food leaders all over Australia already showing what regenerative and nature-positive food systems can look like,” she said.
“What is missing is national co-ordination and the political will to put these solutions into practice, and this must be prioritised by the new National Food Council.”
Open Food Network chief executive officer Serenity Hill said large corporate influence shaped every aspect of our food and agriculture systems, including government regulation and investment across landscapes and population health.
“This has real and material impact — degrading soil health and compromising future production, the allowance of toxics throughout the food supply, national security risk around reliance on fertiliser and diesel imports and the reinforcement of food consumption patterns that result in widespread chronic disease and metabolic ill health,” she said.
“Past attempts at national food security policy reform have failed to address the underlying structural issues and we remain stuck. The council needs to address these structural issues if we are to move the dial on the important issues threatening national food supply.”
Anyone concerned about the future of Australia’s food system is encouraged to sign up to the campaign to stay informed and engaged.
To learn more about Who Decides Food? go to WhoDecidesFood.com
