Time for a shift in focus to improve food affordability for remote customers

Ferguson, Megan; King, Alastair; Brimblecombe, Julie K

doi:10.5694/mja15.00868

Topics

People living in remote communities in Australia pay the highest average prices in the nation for food, and this affects their access to healthy food and drink. Affordability continues to decline, with an increasing gap in food prices between remote stores and urban supermarkets,1 probably associated with deals between supermarkets and manufacturers.

1 Menzies School of Health Research, Brisbane, QLD
2 The Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation, Darwin, NT
3 Menzies School of Health Research, Darwin, NT

Correspondence: Megan.Ferguson@menzies.edu.au

Acknowledgements:

Megan Ferguson is supported by an NHMRC Postgraduate Scholarship (1039074). Julie Brimblecombe is supported by a National Heart Foundation Future Leader Fellowship (100085).

Competing interests:

Alastair King is the Chief Executive Officer of The Arnhem Land Aboriginal Progress Corporation, an Aboriginal benevolent corporation which owns and provides a management service for remote stores. Alastair King is a non-executive director on the board of Outback Stores.

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