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Feeding Australia: Shaping the National Food Security Strategy

BySustain Team

What We Did 

In August 2025, Sustain and partners released Solutions to Food Security in Australia: What’s on the Table? — a comprehensive analysis of 187 submissions made to the 2023 Federal Inquiry into Food Security. The report identified key policy gaps, highlighted areas of stakeholder consensus, and proposed a clear roadmap for a fair, sustainable and resilient food system. 

To support national engagement with the Feeding Australia Discussion Paper (DAFF 2025), we hosted a public webinar bringing together researchers, policy actors, and community organisations. The event unpacked the Inquiry findings and provided practical guidance for stakeholders preparing submissions to the Federal Government’s strategy process. 

How We Did It 

Our team — led by Molly Fairtweather, with contributions from Dr Nick Rose, Dr Rachael Walshe, Kylie Beale, Sophie O’Connor, and Zoe de Castro — conducted a thematic analysis of Inquiry submissions to understand where public, private, and community perspectives aligned or diverged. 


The webinar shared these insights widely, translating academic evidence into actionable policy messages for practitioners, councils, and regional health units. Participants were encouraged to align their own submissions with the evidence-based recommendations outlined in the report, including calls to: 

  • Legislate the Right to Food in Australia. 
  • Establish a National Food Plan under a dedicated Minister for Food. 
  • Shift beyond food relief toward dignified, community-led responses. 
  • Support climate-resilient, regenerative agriculture. 
  • Address corporate concentration and market power in food retail. 

Impact 

The report and webinar contributed to wider public discourse. Sustain’s Executive Director Nick Rose was interviewed on ABC Sydney, and insights from the report featured in The Conversation article (October 2025): 

Australia’s new food security strategy: what’s on the table — and what’s missing 

Through this combined research, advocacy and media engagement, Sustain continues to inform and influence Australia’s national conversation on food security — promoting policies that put equity, health, and ecological regeneration at the heart of the nation’s food system. 

Sustain Team

Sustain is a “think and do” network, specialising in designing and building sustainable and healthy food systems. We work with governments, councils, and community leaders to help map local food systems, and develop evidence-based and achievable policies and programs. We sow the seeds of change with events, policy work, practice & thought leadership, capacity building, and collective action. We give people, councils, and organisations the tools they need to help them become empowered food citizens, supporting healthy communities, people and ecosystems.

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