Like many people on the Tiwi Islands in the Northern Territory, Rosie Woolley and her partner Denis Coolwel know what it is like to go hungry.
The young parents of twin three-year-old boys say their Centrelink income rarely lasts them two weeks and they often skip meals for several days to make sure their kids are fed.
"The boys were born in 2021, that's when my life changed. With the shop prices, I didn't realise it was that much to support a little family," Rosie says.
"Their favourite food is curry, so I make curry sausages, chicken or steak, but when I'm low on money I just use whatever I have in the house, like noodles."
Rosie and Denis eating at the table with their kids (Image: Jarni Blakkarly)
Like many remote First Nations communities around the country, there are few options for food in town. The exorbitantly high prices for what is available combined with low incomes leads to widespread food insecurity.
"I usually spend over about $300 to $500 for grocery shopping to keep us going. It's meant to keep us going two weeks, but it lasts us for a week due to the amount it costs for the food," Rosie says.
Towards the end of the fortnight, Rosie says it's common for her to go around town asking family and friends for money to help feed the boys.
"It feels kind of embarrassing when you have to ask for help. You want to be independent, but you can't because the prices at the shops are really high," she says.
High prices and limited choice
Only 80km from Darwin, Wurrumiyanga is the biggest community in the Tiwi Islands and was home to 1400 residents at the last census, over 85% of whom were Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander.
There are usually two ways to get to the Tiwi Islands: a short flight from Darwin on a small plane or a longer SeaLink ferry ride. When CHOICE visited the community in September the ferry was out of service and had been for weeks. A barge arrives in town twice a week bringing in food supplies and other heavy goods.
We found tins of canned tomato soup, which would sell for $2.50 at a major supermarket in a capital city, priced at $7 here
Flying in, the stunning blue waters give way to idyllic white sand beaches and mangrove forests. But the beautiful water here hides dangers. Saltwater crocodiles lurk beneath, making the beaches unsafe to swim and escape the oppressive heat and humidity.
On the main street in town many locals gather in groups and sit in the shade under the large trees to stay cool. Card games are a popular pastime.
The Old Shop has a shaded area as well where people gather. A big yellow sign reads 'No Card Games permitted, No smoking, No fighting on premise'.
CHOICE investigates food prices in parts of the NT and WA to see how they compare to capital cities.
In the small shop with just a handful of aisles, the prices for everyday essential items are high. We found tins of canned tomato soup, which would sell for $2.50 at a major supermarket in a capital city, priced at $7 here. A tin of spam meat which usually sells for $6.80 in a capital city was $11. The labels sometimes didn't match the item on the shelf and other things like some fruit and vegetables didn't have price labels at all.
Unlike many remote First Nations communities, which have one store in the town, Wurrumiyanga has two stores, but Bernard Tipiloura, one of the Traditional Owners and Elders of the community, says both have high prices and the competition hasn't helped much.
"We want to protest about high price, because high price is not good... Also it's not healthy food, those foods there some of them are not good for us," he says.
Wurrumiyanga Old Store (Image: Jarni Blakkarly)
Mystery shopping
Food insecurity and high prices are certainly not issues limited to the Tiwi Islands.
Boandik woman Bettina Cooper is a financial counsellor with Mob Strong Debt Help and says the high prices seen in communities on the Tiwi Islands are felt around the country.
"When we're traveling to remote communities there's often only one choice of a local store. So whatever price is there is the price you pay," she says.
To gather a sample of the price gap between urban centres and remote First Nations communities, CHOICE mystery shopped four remote community stores, two in Western Australia and two in the Northern Territory.
Grocery items purchased by Rosie and Denis. (Image: Jarni Blakkarly)
The Western Australian stores were in the Great Sandy Desert and the Pilbara, while the Northern Territory shops were in the West Daly region and on Tiwi Islands. In each of the four communities we purchased a list of nine basic items – many of which could be deemed "essentials" – and compared the cost of the basket to identical items from capital cities around Australia.
The basket of items costs on average $44.70 when averaged out across Woolworths, Coles, Aldi and IGA and across all capital cities. The average price in the four remote First Nations community's stores was more than double that at $99.38. The highest price we found was in the West Daly region where the same basket cost a whopping $110.82.
People living in remote Aboriginal communities get very few services that mainstream Australians take for granted
Alan Gray, Bush Money Mob
Alan Gray, managing director of financial counselling not-for-profit Bush Money Mob describes the health impacts of the poor food options he sees in the remote Western Australian communities he visits as an "unfolding tragedy".
"Once you get away from the bitumen, people living in remote Aboriginal communities get very few services that mainstream Australians take for granted. Food and the options of healthy, affordable food is one of them," he says.
What are the solutions?
The National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) is currently in the process of developing a National Strategy for Food Security in Remote First Nations Communities, which is expected to be finished in 2025.
"The Australian Government is committed to addressing food insecurity in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities," the agency says, "and recognises access to nutritious affordable food is critical to improving health outcomes in remote communities and building better futures".
In a joint submission to the NIAA, CHOICE along with First Nations organisations such as Mob Strong Debt Help and the Indigenous Consumer Assistance Network (ICAN) made a range of recommendations that included exploring price caps on essential items in consultation with community and mandatory pricing information on all items.
A core part of having a healthy life is being able to afford and purchase good food to feed your family three square meals a day
Bettina Cooper, Mob Strong Debt
"When we're talking about Closing The Gap, we're talking about closing the gap so that First Nations people have equity in the ability to keep their family and live long healthy lives," Cooper from Mob Strong says.
"A core part of having a healthy life is being able to afford and purchase good food to feed your family three square meals a day. If food isn't priced correctly, then you don't know that you can afford to do that and you might end up not being able to feed your family for the whole week or the whole day," she adds.
Wurrumiyanga drone shot (Photo Jarni Blakkarly)
Another recommendation to address high supply chain costs is that the government consider the role of subsidies for freight of essential food and grocery items.
In Far North Queensland, freight subsidisation is already in place in some 30 remote communities on the mainland and in the Torres Strait through Community Enterprise Queensland (CEQ), a state government scheme.
According to CEQ, basket pricing comparisons of fruit and vegetable items at their stores have found prices to be on average $10 cheaper than those of other remote grocery stores. ICAN, which works extensively throughout Far North Queensland, told CHOICE communities like Wujal Wujal, where a new CEQ store recently opened, are experiencing better food prices than in the past.
Policymakers should also consider increasing social security benefits to better reflect the actual cost of living in extremely remote communities
Lynda Edwards, a Wangkumara and Barkandji woman from Financial Counselling Australia, says policymakers should also consider increasing social security benefits to better reflect the actual cost of living in extremely remote communities.
"There has got to be an appetite from whoever is in government, because the current system that's in place now is just not working," she says.
Online shopping
The Catholic Care NT building in Wurrumiyanga is raised on stilts on the second floor and sits just across from the old historic church built in 1941.
Inside, on a hot afternoon, Gerald Kaggwa, who has been living on the island for two years explains how he tries to encourage local residents to buy their groceries online from Woolworths or Coles in Darwin and get it delivered via the barge.
Many people don't have money to plan ahead for next week's shop
"We help people to open online accounts and then they do online shopping. They can access shops in Darwin which have cheaper-priced products," he explains. "If you spend $150 at the shop, you will have roughly a $30 charge for freight on the barge, but then the same goods may cost $400 in the shop here, so it will save a lot of money."
Despite offering to set up online accounts for his clients, he says there hasn't been much uptake, something he puts down to the fact that many people don't have money to plan ahead for next week's shop. Low levels of internet connectivity and online literacy are other issues.
Tiwi Elder Shane Kerinaiua (Image: Jarni Blakkarly)
Shane Kerinaiua, an Elder in the community, says everyone in the town is doing it tough because of high food prices. He says they often want to go out and do traditional hunting of seafood and fish, but even this is made difficult because the price of petrol for the boats is above three dollars a litre.
"I see the Elders and the youngens', on both islands, across the three communities, it doesn't get any better," Shane says.
While visiting the community CHOICE was told about women having miscarriages due to malnutrition.
Most people will share food in the community, it's the way that we live, we share food
Shane Kerinaiua, Tiwi Elder
Shane says despite the challenges, the community will always come together when they can. "Most people will share food in the community, it's the way that we live, we share food," he says.
Jester Carbone, a financial counsellor with Catholic Care NT says most people living in the big cities have no idea how expensive it is in remote communities.
"I met some people who came from down south and they were shocked at how expensive things are here," he says. "It's a different level of poverty. Whatever you can get in Darwin they deserve to get it and be able to afford it here too."
Stock images: Getty, unless otherwise stated.
