Underwhelming and disappointing: Victorian Government food system inquiries responses

A food system expert says the Victorian Government’s “lukewarm” support for action on the State’s cost-of living and food security crises, falls far short.

On Thursday 31 July 2025, the Victorian government delivered its responses to two parliamentary inquiries held in 2024 – Food Security in Victoria (released by the Legal and Social Issues Committee (LSC)) and Securing Victoria’s Food Supply (released by the Environment and Planning Committee (EPC)).

“These inquiries took place during an ongoing cost-of-living crisis which is negatively impacting millions of Victorians” says Dr. Nick Rose, Executive Director of Sustain: The Australian Food Network. “With few exceptions, the Government’s response to recommendations made by its own Committees, can only be described as underwhelming and disappointing.”

“The responses to both inquiries largely consist of reciting existing measures and funding commitments, or minor technical changes to planning instruments for issues like peri-urban agriculture.”

“We were particularly disappointed with the government’s lukewarm support for the major recommendation made by both Committees – the development of a Victorian Food Security Strategy based on a firm commitment to the human right to food for all Victorians.”

“It is clear from the Victorian government’s many references to the national Feeding Australia strategy that they expect the Federal government to do most of the heavy lifting on food security. With the development of a National Food Plan still two years away at least – the millions of Victorians living in a food system in crisis, must make do with ‘support in principle’.”

“We were also disappointed by the government’s rejection of agricultural covenants as an effective means to protect agricultural land and support the transition to sustainable farming.”

200+ submissions were made to both inquiries, many of which described the Victorian food system as not fit for purpose and a prime cause of chronic, dietary-related disease.

“The few bright spots in the responses include creating a more permissive framework for on-farm micro abattoirs and continued support for local food relief grant programs, foodshares and Foodbank Victoria” says Rose.

“That said, the level of food relief support is inadequate in the face of unprecedented demand from new cohorts of service users, including growing numbers of people in work.”

“Despite this dispiriting response, Sustain will continue to work with our members and partners to press the Victorian government to find the political courage to finally act on food.”

Sustain engaged substantively with both inquiries in 2024, through submissions, giving oral testimony at in-person hearings, and providing further written answers to questions on notice. In April 2024, the organisation held a symposium to support stakeholders to engage with the inquiries and provided a template to facilitate the making of submissions. 

Background notes – the road to the inquiries

In 2023, Victorias food system had reached crisis point. The three years of covid 19 pandemic lockdowns, supply chain disruptions; climate crisis related bushfires, floods; and global inflation converged to create a scenario in which more than a third of Victorians were moderately to severely food insecure – that is, they had either compromised on the quality and quantity of their diets, or they had run out of food at times throughout the year and could not access more. The States Food Relief Taskforce, established during the Pandemic, had been slated with lockdowns over, and yet the evidence demonstrated that food insecurity had continued to rise.

Sustain, and many other community organisations, campaigned for a state level inquiry into Victorias failing food system. The organisation met with MPs from the Labor government, the Nationals, The Greens, and Legalise Cannabis. These were productive conversations that received broad support from all.

This advocacy resulted in the establishment of two inquiries – one in the lower house brought forward by the Labor Party in the Environmental and Planning Committee exploring how Victoria would secure food supply in the coming decades; and another in the upper house brought forward by the Greens through the Legal and Social Committee, seeking to understand the impacts of food insecurity on Victorians, and how to reduce the number of those experiencing hunger.

In short, one inquiry looked at how Victoria could ensure a sustainable supply of food, and the other, understanding the effects of food shortages, and how food can be more equitably distributed.

Background notes – the inquiry reports

Sustain was happy to see that both committee reports included many of the recommendations called for in both our submission, and those of the numerous community organisations that dedicated time to ensuring their voices were heard.

In December, Sustain wrote an article expressing our support for both reports, whilst noting our concern that without concrete funding and bold programmatic and legislative initiatives, they had the potential to follow so many other government inquiries and royal commissions – with recommendations unfulfilled and the impacts on community remaining pervasive. We stated that:

“Legislating a right to food, adopting a systems approach to foo security and empowering community-level action are the three highlights of the Food Security in Victoria report (released today), according to Sustain: The Australian Food Network. But these strong recommendations are undermined by a lack of serious funding and ‘dodging’ the need for substantive action on the supermarket duopoly, says the food system network.”

We continued advocating to government to ensure that the progressive policy recommendations would be committed to in a tangible way that would ensure that farmers were given a fair go, and that communities and families could eat nutritious, sustainable, and delicious food.