As unrest in the Middle East enters its fourth week, and the Strait of Hormuz remains closed, Australia’s food supply chain faces its most serious external threat in decades from rising fuel prices and impacted global fertiliser trade.
United Workers Union is calling for an overhaul of industry settings to protect the 2.3 million essential food workers whose jobs underpin our nation’s ability to feed itself.
From farms and meat processing to dairy, bread, beverages and supermarket logistics, these workers – many of whom are represented by United Workers Union – grow, make and move the food Australia depends on. These are workers who need to be protected and invested in, not left exposed to the forces bearing down on global supply chains.
“These workers play a vital role in Australia’s food ecosystem––there is no food security without job security. With a war raging in the Middle East and its effects already hitting Australian supply chains, this issue cannot wait,” United Workers Union Food and Beverages Director Mel Gatfield said.
Ms Gatfield was appointed late last year to the National Food Council, which is tasked with advancing food security through the Federal Government’s “Feeding Australia” strategy.
Persistent rising living costs including higher petrol prices, climate change weather events and global instability driven by the conflict in the Middle East have brought food security – and the related issue of food insecurity – into prominence, at a time when vulnerable Australians’ ability to access the food they need is already under pressure.
“The issue of food insecurity affecting Australians right now has come into sharper focus as the broader issue of food security – whether Australia has enough food to feed itself – is made more pressing by global events,” Ms Gatfield said
“What we’d like to see is a sense of urgency on both fronts: ensuring stable, secure jobs in the broader food sector, and protecting vulnerable Australians from food insecurity.”
UWU’s recommendations to the Inquiry on Food Security in Australia include:
- Investment in the long‑term sustainability of food industries, particularly those impacted by climate change.
- Measures to ease cost‑of‑living pressures and improve access to reliable food infrastructure.
- Secure, skilled employment in regional communities.
- Stronger competition laws to prevent harmful consolidation in critical industries such as dairy.
- Improved protections for migrant workers, including those on temporary visas such as the Working Holiday Maker program, and clearer pathways to permanency.
“Insecure work is putting pressure on the people who grow, make, and move our food––those who are already under strain with rising living costs, global instability, and unchecked corporate consolidation,” Ms Gatfield said.
“An effective food security strategy depends on strong regional workforces and viable small‑to‑medium food manufacturers and suppliers. Corporate buy‑outs by large conglomerates are making smaller producers unviable, reducing secure employment, and hollowing out regional communities.”
A 2023 parliamentary inquiry found that while Australia produces more food than it consumes overall, food security remains vulnerable due to pressures on key industries—most notably dairy, where stagnating and declining raw milk production signals an industry in crisis.
“Dairy is the backbone of many regional communities, with more than 100,000 Australians relying on the industry for their livelihoods,” Ms Gatfield said.
“Employment and production are under threat from corporate consolidation, including acquisitions that risk further weakening regional jobs and domestic supply chains.”
Sources
- The George Institute for Global Health Australia – Submission to the House Standing Committee on Agriculture Inquiry on Food Security in Australia – Submissions – Parliament of Australia
- United Workers Union – Food Security Strategy Submission:
https://haveyoursay.agriculture.gov.au/food-security-strategy/survey/view/265 - Australian Bureau of Statistics – Food insecurity, 2023 | Australian Bureau of Statistics
- Feeding Australia: A National Food Security Strategy – DAFF
ENDS