Wednesday, 5 March 2025

Environment and Planning Committee

Inquiry into Securing the Victorian Food Supply

Juliana ADDISON (Wendouree) (10:19): As chair of the Legislative Assembly Environment and Planning Committee, I am again pleased to rise to speak on the Securing the Victorian Food Supply inquiry report that was tabled in this place in the last sitting week of 2024. The reason we did this inquiry was for the next generation. As I look up into the public gallery and see those young, happy faces, I think, ‘What does the future look like for them? What is their food supply going to be? What’s food security going to mean for the next generation to come through?’ With Victoria’s population expected to rise above 10 million by the 2050s, our inquiry report on securing the Victorian food supply made recommendations that address what is needed to ensure the long-term supply of healthy, locally grown food in this state so that every Victorian can get locally grown food.

The report’s 33 recommendations and 29 findings are focused primarily on the state’s food supply, population growth and urban sprawl. I know that the member for Lara is very concerned about this, and I thank the member for Lara for her thoughtful contribution, which addressed food insecurity in her electorate as well as across Geelong. We know that securing Victoria’s food supply is vital for the future of our communities – their quality of life, health and wellbeing, and jobs – and our state’s economy. And as we all know, it is also a cost of living issue. Victoria needs to consider ways to overcome the present and future challenges so we can guarantee the longevity of our state’s food supply, which is why we closely looked at farming and manufacturing of food in peri-urban areas; the impact of urban sprawl and population growth at the fringe of the state’s major cities and regional towns, including Ballarat in my electorate; as well as the future of farming across our state.

Agricultural and farming industries crucially provide the fruit, vegetables, meat, dairy, and countless other foods all of us rely on every day. The decisions that we make today – that everybody in this Parliament makes – will have a massive impact on land use, the future of farming in our state, access to Victorian produce and ultimately our state’s food security. Securing our food for Victoria needs to be a priority of not just the government but all members of this Parliament regardless of the geography of their electorates. This is a task that we must approach not only enthusiastically but seriously with a sense of urgency, and that was certainly the approach and the attitude of the members of the Environment and Planning Committee and secretariat. I once again want to recognise the outstanding collaboration of the committee members – including deputy chair the member for Morwell, the member for Bass, the member for Croydon, the member for Monbulk, the member for Ripon and the member for Warrandyte – and the great work of committee manager Igor Dosen, research officer Samantha Leahy and administrative officer Helen Ross-Soden.

We were sorry to see the departure of the member for Warrandyte from our committee at the end of last year, and we thank her for the contribution she made to the committee. And whilst the member for Warrandyte is irreplaceable, we have been pleased to welcome the member for Narracan onto the committee for our new inquiry into the supply of homes in regional Victoria. We have just undertaken our first regional visit to Colac and south-west Victoria, which was very informative.

Cindy McLeish: On a point of order, Deputy Speaker, the member has started to talk about the current inquiry, which is out of order during statements on committee reports.

The DEPUTY SPEAKER: I ask the member for Wendouree to come back to the committee report.

Juliana ADDISON: Yes. I was just about to say that I will talk about that report in due course.

The securing of Victoria’s food supply inquiry recognised that there are significant challenges facing farmers and that these are multifaceted. These challenges merit a whole-of-government, whole-of-food-system response which recognises that farmers are at the heart of our food system and healthy food is at the foundation of the wellbeing of all Victorians. The ongoing loss of farmland around our urban centres, where most Victorians live, also has implications for the resilience of our food supply – once again, the member for Lara addressed this issue in her region of Geelong. Significantly, the supply of food grown on farms adjacent to our cities is more vulnerable to disruption – and I am sure the member for Point Cook is well aware of that – than those produced further afield.

In closing, I want to say this was a really, really great report. Our inquiry’s findings and recommendations call for a cohesive policy approach. I recommend the report.