City of Melbourne

Vision:

Through the creation of a food policy, the City of Melbourne envisions a food system that is secure, healthy, sustainable, thriving and socially inclusive. The City will work with the community and other partners to achieve a food system where:
- Everyone in the community has access to sufficient, nutritious, safe, fair and culturally appropriate food for both today and the future.
- The community embraces healthy eating and nutritious food.
- The food produced and consumed improves the environment, regenerates natural resources and promotes sustainable and fair food practices.
- Food businesses and enterprises across the city support strong, local economies.
- Diverse, multicultural food traditions are celebrated, and Melbourne is promoted as a city of great food.

Challenges/Overview:

Through changing climate, resource scarcity and increasing demand, the City of Melbourne recognises that the local food system is facing serious challenges. While the City of Melbourne acknowledges that we all have a role to play in creating a food system that is secure, healthy, sustainable, thriving and inclusive, the City’s food policy outlines the areas wherein which they can make an effective local contribution.

Themes:

The City of Melbourne identified the following five key themes, along with a set of ambitions (to provide a framework wherein which the policy vision can be achieved).

Theme 1:
A strong, food secure community.
Ambitions:
- Increase access to nutritious, safe, fair and culturally appropriate food for all people in the municipality (this requires a focus on those who are most vulnerable).
- Build knowledge and skills for food provision within the community.
- Encourage broad community participation in decisions and activities that shape the City’s food system.

Theme 2:
Healthy food choices for all.
Ambitions:
- Improve and promote the availability of nutritious food options in the municipality.
- Raise awareness about what is involved in a healthy, nutritious diet.
- Ensure the provision of safe food by regulation.

Theme 3:
A sustainable and resilient food system.
Ambitions:
- Encourage environmentally sustainable food practices.
- Increase food production within the municipality.
- Reduce food waste through encouraging redistribution of food and recycling of organic waste and water.

Theme 4:
A thriving local food economy.
Ambitions:
- Promote a vibrant and diverse food sector that extends Melbourne’s reputation as a world class ‘city of food’.
- Increase the opportunities for city residents and visitors to purchase local and regionally-produced food.
- Investigate innovative food system solutions.

Theme 5:
A city that celebrates food.
Ambitions:
- Promote the diversity and quality of the municipality’s food cultures.
- Encourage shared celebrations of food that bring people together, strengthen social inclusion and build connected communities.
- Celebrate stories of food that reconnect us to its source and the natural world.

Role of council / key action areas:

The City of Melbourne's roles in delivering their food policies and associated frameworks include:

Education and Community Development:
Providing information and supporting the development of skills that enable people to choose, grow, prepare and serve nutritious and sustainable food.

Leadership and Advocacy:
Leading by example through the food that Council buys and makes available, and advocating for policy changes at all levels of government.

Building and Strengthening Partnerships:
Partnering with key players (community groups, local businesses, professional stakeholders) as well as other levels of government.

Regulation and Infrastructure Management:
Managing the city’s statutory responsibilities, resources and infrastructure to support the development of a healthy, sustainable and fair food system.

Research:
Building an evidence base to guide action and decision-making, this would include conducting research, collecting and interpreting data, and investigating barriers to change.

Link to strategy:

https://www.melbourne.vic.gov.au/sitecollectiondocuments/com-food-policy.pdf