Food, Poverty and Cost of Living

Organised by Macquarie School of Social Sciences and Australian Basic Income Lab, this event brings together four experts on food, price and poverty to discuss how the food system works, how it might work differently and how we can ensure that everyone has the income they need to ensure a nutritious diet.

Floods, COVID and war have seen the cost of food jump significantly. Unlike other basics – such as healthcare or education – we have no reliable mechanism to ensure that everyone can get enough to eat. Indeed, we have a poor understanding of how food prices impact different groups of people. Standard poverty measures often underestimate the impact of rising food prices on those with very low incomes, and can even make it appear that poverty is falling as malnutrition increases. Australia has not seriously engaged with questions of poverty and food since the 1970s, and post-COVID income support payments have returned to levels widely agreed to enforce poverty. We bring together four experts on food, price and poverty to discuss how the food system works, how it might work differently and how we can ensure that everyone has the income they need to ensure a nutritious diet.