Inquiry into Food Security in Victoria

The Legal and Social Issues Committee (LSC) of the Victorian Legislative Council has just released the Food Security in Victoria report. This report summarises 33 findings and 25 recommendations from a 6-month inquiry process that sought to understand the drivers, impacts and solutions for food security in Victoria.

The Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation is encouraged by the recent report.

1. We strongly support the Inquiry’s finding that “including food literacy in school curriculums can equip young people with practical skills related to food preparation, nutrition, and healthy eating practices.”
    
2. We strongly support the Inquiry’s first recommendation “that the Victorian Government provide support to schools who wish to expand their food education programs, including encouraging them to take a place-based approach by working collaboratively with local communities to meet the specific needs and challenges of each region.”
    
3. We welcome the inquiry’s recognition of the need to transition from food relief to resilience, and wholly support the recommendations to develop a Victorian Food Security Strategy and adopt a systems approach to change that integrates multiple sectors, including health, agriculture, trade and education.
    
4. We are also supportive of the recommendation for coordination with a Commonwealth National Food Plan.

With 20 years’ experience, and a strong evidence-base, the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation has a proven model to “equip individuals with the knowledge and skills to make informed food choices, manage their resources effectively, and maintain a healthy diet through food literacy education.”

Our proven community place‑based approach to food education builds resilience through co-design and harnessing existing local priorities and capability to achieve community-led change. We stand ready to immediately scale and expand our flexible and adaptable Kitchen Garden Program food education to all schools and early childhood services through a holistic community place-based approach.

Our approach is proven to improve food literacy and behaviour and supports educators and communities to deliver on curriculum objectives and priorities in health, wellbeing, sustainability and life skills. The Kitchen Garden Program successfully reaches priority populations and positively supports community connection and resilience.

The Food Security in Victoria report was tabled in Parliament on 14 November 2024. The Government has six months to respond to the findings. To learn more about the impact of the Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Garden Foundation, visit our Impact page.