Food insecurity growing, census shows

GOVERNMENT-funded health and wellbeing organisation Healthy Loddon Campaspe has released a preliminary finding from its 2025 Active Living Census that highlights an increase in food insecurity across the region.

Data from the census has shown that 18 per cent of residents within the survey’s boundaries are experiencing low or very low food security, meaning they’ve faced challenges in accessing enough nutritious food over the past 12 months.

Healthy Loddon Campaspe spokesperson Jess Howard said food insecurity is a growing issue and this time of year can be especially challenging for families and individuals.

“Everyone in the community has the right to access sufficient healthy, affordable food to support their health and wellbeing,” she said.

“(This data) gives us a clearer picture of the scale of the problem and will help inform future planning and action.”

Bendigo Foodshare CEO Michelle Murphy said the figure reflects what its local food relief agencies are seeing on the ground.

“We continue to see increased demand for food relief across Central Victoria, (and) rising living costs mean more people are struggling to put food on the table,” she said.

“This reinforces the need for strong partnerships and community support to ensure everyone has access to nutritious food.

“It also reinforces the importance of prevention programs such as Foodshare’s cooking and growing programs that work to build capacity in disadvantaged communities – particularly for young people from diverse communities.”

Detailed findings broken down by local government area will be available in the first half of this year.