Subjects: Closing the Gap, food security in remote communities, Northern Territory Remote Aboriginal Investment.
SABRA LANE, HOST: The Federal Government is putting in place price caps on 30 common grocery items in remote communities across Australia as part of its Closing the Gap strategy. It's aiming to make a practical difference to the lives of Indigenous families. A study last year showed many common items were double the price found in capital cities leading to unhealthy choices. This is happening as the Prime Minister will deliver his yearly Closing the Gap statement today. Malarndirri McCarthy is the federal Minister for Indigenous Australians. Minister, good morning and welcome.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY, MINISTER FOR INDIGENOUS AUSTRALIANS: Good morning, Sabra and good morning to your listeners.
SABRA LANE: This is the 18th year of Closing the Gap. The strategy was refreshed five years ago. It's still not heading in the right direction quickly enough, is it?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, we've certainly got five targets that are on track, and we know that 11 targets are improving. But I think it's important to point out that what we will be announcing today in terms of the annual report is what we are doing as a government around policies, Sabra. It's actually the Productivity Commission that looks at the data and looks at how the targets are tracking, and what I will be announcing today with the Prime Minister is our plan for 2025.
SABRA LANE: Now, the main part of this policy today is price caps on 30 essential products in 76 remote stores. What kind of products are we talking about, and the region, are you talking right across remote Australia?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Regional and remote Australia, Sabra, and we're talking about a list of core essential items that were actually put together by the Food Security Working Group that gives me advice, and we looked at items like flour, like milk, tinned tuna, rice, spreads, cereal, canned meals, to fresh fruit; apples, oranges, bananas, to toiletries with toilet rolls, nappies, baby formula. So, there is a list of 30 items there that we are focused on, and certainly, the Prime Minister is very supportive of as we look at trying to reduce the cost‑of‑living issues in regional and remote Australia.
SABRA LANE: Why the price caps?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Well, this is actually more about reducing the extra cost in remote and regional Australia. It's largely due to food supply chain, you would have seen, and we do currently with flooding, with extreme temperatures, we see roads cut off, we see bridges collapse. There are usually lots of issues that create difficulties for those food supplies to get into our communities across the country.
SABRA LANE: You've talked about reducing the pressure as people deal with cost of living. But what difference could this make to those people's lives?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: We're looking at the fact that we have high rates of chronic kidney disease, heart disease, rheumatic fever, we have high diabetes. What we want to see is food products that actually assist as well in healthy living, nutrition-filled foods, and this is what this announcement today is all about is making sure that we are concentrating not just on the costs of food but the quality of food, the fact that we have a long way to go, Sabra, in terms of trying to improve the lives and the healthy lives for First Nations people in particular.
SABRA LANE: And a nutrition program that's been in place in Arnhem Land, that's going to be rolled out on a more wider basis. What is that about?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: That's right. So, it's really about looking at the foods, giving advice to families, being able to assist them with the correct foods to have. As you know, chronic kidney disease is a huge issue across all Aboriginal families really, but mostly in remote and regional Australia, and largely they do have to go into centres like Cairns, like Broome, like Darwin, away from their communities. So, this extra support in terms of the kinds of foods that we can have in our remote regions will go a long way to assisting with the healthy lives for all First Nations families.
SABRA LANE: And that program that was in place in Arnhem Land, what difference did that make? Can you tell us about that?
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Yes, it's certainly making a very big difference in terms of awareness. It's also about literacy in terms of the Yolngu language, so we have interpreter service so that things are identified, you have good programs like the Jimmy Little Foundation with the Thumbs Up Program which identifies which products are good to eat, you have phone apps like theirs, which also they can put on to the food products to see how much sugar is in it, how much salt; all of those things. This is really important for awareness so First Nations families can also inform themselves of the kinds of food that they're eating.
SABRA LANE: The Federal Government announced on Friday $840 million in funding with the Northern Territory Government. It's a renewal of a program with increased funding. The opposition has attacked this as lazy and irresponsible, claiming that $350 million has been wasted. How do you respond to that criticism?
SABRA LANE: Well, it's always disappointing to hear the criticism from the Coalition when we actually haven't heard of a plan for theirs other than cutting; cutting public services, cutting Aboriginal organisations, and I would urge the Coalition in particular on this day that this agreement is one that they signed up to, in fact, this refresh was done by Prime Minister Scott Morrison and the former Indigenous Australians Minister Ken Wyatt. So, I would encourage them to recognise that this is a bipartisan support across not only the federal parliament but also every state and territory jurisdiction, Sabra.
SABRA LANE: Minister, thanks for your time on AM this morning.
MALARNDIRRI McCARTHY: Thank you, Sabra.
SABRA LANE: Malarndirri McCarthy is the Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians.