Response to the Release of Tasmania’s Food Resilience Strategy 2025–2031

Loaves and Fishes Tasmania (LFT) welcomes the release of Building Food Resilient Communities: Tasmania’s Food Resilience Strategy 2025–2031, recognising it as an important step toward a coordinated, dignified, and long-term approach to food security across the state.

As Tasmania’s largest social food production and distribution organisation, LFT sees firsthand the realities facing Tasmanians experiencing food stress. We are encouraged that the Strategy reflects many of the principles our organisation and partners have been championing for years — dignity, nutrition, collaboration, place-based solutions, and a shift from short-term crisis response to long-term resilience.

The social and economic impact of focusing on food resilience rather than food relief

Tasmania has long relied on food relief to meet immediate need. Food relief is essential — it saves lives, supports people in crisis, and holds families together in moments of acute stress. But it cannot be the foundation of a healthy or sustainable food system.

The Strategy’s most important shift is the call to focus on food resilience, not simply relief. Food relief responds to immediate crisis, resilience builds the systems that prevent those crises from repeating.

Food relief will always remain necessary, but it cannot carry the long-term weight of food insecurity. This shift is not just philosophical, it changes how food support is designed, delivered and experienced. Resilience centres dignity, choice and stability, and builds the coordinated systems that help people move from short-term crisis to long-term wellbeing.

When we do business differently, the benefits are felt right across the state.

Social impact — dignity, stability, and stronger communities

When we focus on food resilience:

• People regain dignity through choice and participation rather than dependency.
• Children receive consistent nutrition, improving learning, behaviour, and long-term health.
• Families stabilise, reducing stress and the need for crisis-level support.
• Communities become stronger and more connected, especially where local food hubs and social supermarkets bring people together.
• Stigma decreases, as food access becomes normalised, equitable, and community-led.

“Food relief keeps people alive. Food resilience helps people live. When we strengthen food resilience, we strengthen families, schools, regional communities, and the social fabric of Tasmania.”

Economic impact — long-term savings and local economic strength

Emergency relief is the most expensive and least sustainable way to address food insecurity. A resilience-focused system delivers clear economic benefits:

• Lower health costs, as better nutrition improves long-term wellbeing.
• Improved school retention and readiness, strengthening Tasmania’s future workforce.
• Higher workforce participation, as stable households create stable employment.
• Reduced pressure on crisis and emergency services, saving taxpayers significant long-term costs.
• More Tasmanian food staying in Tasmania, supporting local producers and regional economies.
• Less duplication and waste, due to coordinated logistics and shared systems.

A Positive Step Toward System Change

LFT applauds the Strategy’s commitments to:

• Dignity-based access, including co-payment models and community-led pathways
• Nutrition standards and quality benchmarks
• Place-based approaches tailored to local needs
• A whole-of-government lens
• Support for social supermarkets and hybrid models

Our Concerns: Implementation Will Determine Success

Tasmania cannot shift from relief to resilience on goodwill alone. It requires backbone funding, shared infrastructure, and a clear implementation roadmap. Several risks must be addressed: 

1. Urgency and Timelines

The Strategy sets a strong direction, but momentum will depend entirely on the 2026 Action Plan. Without clear timelines, responsibilities and early milestones, Tasmanians will not feel the practical benefits of this shift.

2. Governance Structure

A strong, independent Food Security Council/Coalition is essential. Membership must include:

• System expertise
• Regional representation
• Producers voices
• Courageous, wise, independent voices
• People unafraid to challenge entrenched pattern

3. Funding Adequacy

Investment must reflect the scale of system change required — including statewide logistics, community-led infrastructure, nutrition-focused production, digital systems, and workforce capability.

4. Shared Standards and Data

Tasmania needs consistent statewide standards and an honest, outcomes-focused measurement framework.

A Collaborative Opportunity With Statewide Social and Economic Benefits

LFT believes Tasmania is on the cusp of meaningful change if the Strategy is matched with courageous implementation, adequate investment, and genuine collaboration.

Many of the systems described in the Strategy – coordinated logistics, regional distribution, dignity-based access, and place-based food pathways – align directly with the work LFT delivers every day. With the right Action Plan and partnership, these systems can be scaled to deliver the outcomes Tasmanians deserve.

“We see the need every day — but we also see the possibility,” Hillier said. “This Strategy can lift social outcomes, strengthen local economies, and reshape food security for decades if we commit to doing this together.”

Call to Action

To ensure the Strategy delivers long-term social and economic benefits for Tasmanians, LFT calls for:

1. Clear Governance and Representation

A strong, independent governance structure established early.

2. Timelines With Accountability

Clear milestones for the 2026 Action Plan.

3. Funding That Matches the Vision

Investment aligned to the scale of social and economic impact.

4. Statewide Minimum Standards

Co-designed nutrition, access, and dignity standards.

5. A Unified Sector

Commitment to collaboration, shared data, and reducing duplication.

– Andrew Hillier, CEO of Loaves and Fishes Tasmania

ALL MEDIA ENQUIRIES MUST GO TO:
Andrew Hillier
Chief Executive Officer
Loaves and Fishes Tasmania
Mobile: 0418 594 054
Email: andrew.hillier@lft.org.au