There's a push for food manufacturers and farmers to be given a tax incentive to donate previously wasted food to charity. It comes as charities say they're seeing a doubling of demand for food and they expect the situation to worsen.
Category
đŸ“º
TVTranscript
00:00This yoghurt manufacturer donated 150,000 kilograms of food to charity last year.
00:10Because we know there's an ongoing cost of living crisis out there amongst the community
00:14and there's a real food insecurity issue.
00:16It would like to do more.
00:18But unfortunately there is an additional cost associated at times with donating food
00:22and often surplus stock does go into alternative waste streams.
00:25Packing, warehousing and transporting food to charity comes at a cost to food manufacturers and farmers.
00:33It's often cheaper to dump excess product into landfill
00:38and so there has been a barrier to being able to provide more to Foodbank.
00:437.6 million tonnes of edible food is wasted in Australia, adding to greenhouse gas emissions.
00:50At the same time the need for food relief is growing.
00:54The food, we know as soon as we put it out it goes within a couple of hours.
00:59This neighbourhood centre provides some of the staples to families in the area.
01:04It's the bread and fruit and veggies. Fruit and veggies is the biggest thing that everyone relies on around here
01:10because they just sky high now.
01:12Foodbank says there's been a doubling of demand.
01:15We've got to do a better job by our farmers, we've got to do a better job by our planet
01:20and we've got to do a better job by those vulnerable Australians who need our help right now.
01:25A bill is expected to go before the Senate later this year.
01:28It would give farmers and manufacturers who donate surplus food a tax incentive
01:34to allow them to claim some of the expenses involved.
01:37It's expected to cost the government between $50 and $100 million a year
01:42with individual company claims limited to $5 million.
01:47And there are caps to lock out the big supermarkets from the scheme.
01:52And they've given me a reassurance that while they welcome this initiative
01:55this is not a tax incentive that they'll be seeking
01:58and I'll be working to make sure that they honour that commitment.
02:02If passed the rebate would only be available for three years
02:06in the hope cost of living pressures will have eased by then.