More than a third of First Nations households across the country experienced food insecurity due to a lack of money for food in the last year, a new survey has revealed.
The National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey, conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics, measured about 7700 Indigenous people from approximately 4900 households across the country, in both remote and non-remote areas.
It comes in the midst of a cost-of-living crisis which has forced the federal government to invest $9.6 million to improve food security for First Nations people in remote communities.
The level of food insecurity was higher in remote areas, with 50.7 per cent of households outside of cities and regional areas experiencing food insecurity in the last 12 months, compared to 40.4 per cent in non-remote areas.
Across the country, 17 per cent of First Nations people said they have experienced "severe" food insecurity in the last year, characterised as one or more members of a household being forced to miss meals or have a reduced food intake and, in the most extreme examples, gone at least one day without food due to a lack of money.
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Earlier this month, Federal Minister for Indigenous Australians, Malarndirri McCarthy, said the government knows "food insecurity disproportionately affects First Nations people living in remote communities".
"We are also seeing the impact extreme weather is having on remote communities that are more regularly experiencing long periods of isolation from critical supplies," she said.
The National Strategy for Food Security in remote First Nations communities, in partnership with state and territory governments and First Nations health organisations, which is aimed at improving access to nutritious and affordable food and groceries, is expected to be finalised by early 2025.
There are more than 200 remote community stores across Australia, serving around 150,000 First Nations people.
Remote communities pay significantly higher prices for food, petrol, and other essentials.
Northern Land Council chairperson Matthew Ryan told National Indigenous Times "having healthy and affordable food available is a basic human right, one that all people, whether they're living in Nightcliff or Nitjpurru, deserve".
"Our governments, Territory and federal, need to do all they can to ensure this. The latest investment is a step in the right direction; especially ahead of the Wet season when time and time again many of our communities get completely cut-off," he said.
Food security is a key determinant for health, associated with nutritional imbalances and some chronic conditions, including diabetes, cardiovascular disease, kidney disease, hypertension, and mental and behavioural conditions.
The survey revealed 30 per cent of First Nations people over 18-years-of-age had experienced high or very high levels of psychological distress in the last 4 weeks, with people living in cities or regional areas more likely to experience mental distress than those in remote areas.
The percentage of people aged two-years and over who had mental and behavioural conditions increased from 24 per cent to 29 per cent from 2018-19.
Just over a quarter of people aged 15 years and over accessed health services for their own mental health in the last 12 months.
The ABS said people who felt satisfied or very satisfied with their own level of knowledge of culture, and/or those who hadn't experienced for themselves, or their relatives being removed from their natural family, were more likely to experience low or moderate levels of psychological distress, as compared to those who had.
In positive data, there was a decrease in the proportion of people who had heart, stroke, and vascular disease across the country, whilst the number of people smoking daily decreased from 37 per cent to 29 per cent from 2019.
Furthermore, there have been improvements in the proportion of people never smoking, as well as the rates of overweight and obesity.
