Amid the cost-of-living crisis, food insecurity is on the rise for many Australians. But for Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander communities, accessing healthy, affordable food can be even more challenging. Two early-career researchers are exploring ways to tackle this inequity in Australia’s food systems.
Imagine paying $10 a kilo for apples. Or $7 for soup. For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander families living in remote communities, it’s a daily reality. Many are paying more than double capital-city prices for groceries, which are often also in limited supply.1
But Dr Simone Sherriff (GradDipIndigHProm ’13, MPH ’17, PhD ’24) says that food insecurity in remote Indigenous communities is about a lot more than just high prices and added freight costs. She also cites low incomes, lack of job opportunities, poor infrastructure, unsafe housing and systemic inequality – related to colonisation and disrupted cultural practices – which together limit access to affordable, nutritious food.
And it’s not just a remote issue – similar inequities exist in regional towns and urban centres across Australia.
As part of her PhD, Simone collected data from Aboriginal families in the NSW Riverina region and in Campbelltown, on Sydney’s outskirts, to build evidence of their experiences of food insecurity in non-remote settings. Believed to be one of the first qualitative studies of its kind, it aimed to ensure that Aboriginal voices were heard in food security discussions.
A lot of Aboriginal families live in suburbs where they don’t have any supermarkets, and they have to travel to major shops.
Dr Simone Sherriff
“A lot of Aboriginal families live in suburbs where they don’t have any supermarkets, and they have to travel to major shops,” Simone explains. “Many families don’t have a car or can’t afford rego or petrol. So, they’re having to get public transport, walking to the bus and back with all their kids and groceries.”
Some she interviewed had experienced racism on public transport, leaving them fearful. In urban settings there is also easier access to unhealthy foods and takeaway, and exposure to marketing particularly aimed at children.
Another study Simone worked on found that 96 percent of Aboriginal households in NSW struggled to afford food – triggering other health issues. This led to the development of a food planning tool to assist communities in discussing food security to help to identify solutions.
A proud Wotjobaluk woman, Simone, started out as an apprentice chef, transitioning to the role of researcher through her work at a local Aboriginal health service. This inspired her to enrol at university – the first person in her family to do so. After completing a Graduate Diploma in Indigenous Health Promotion and a Master of Public Health at the University of Sydney, Simone was awarded the Turner PhD scholarship, made possible through the generosity of alumna Margaret Turner (MHS ’94, BA ’21).
Breastfeeding and beyond
Simone’s PhD studies led to her current role as a Research Fellow at the University’s Poche Centre for Indigenous Health, and initially to work on food security of a different kind – a breastfeeding pilot program back in regional Wagga Wagga on Wiradjuri Country, where she grew up.
Working with local Aboriginal mothers, she led the development of the Yalbilinya Miya (‘learn together’ in Wiradjuri) project, in collaboration with the Riverina Medical and Dental Aboriginal Corporation, the Poche Centre, and the Lowitja and Sax Institutes.
“The community had noticed that many Aboriginal mothers were starting to breastfeed in hospital but stopping soon after they were discharged, due to a lack of support,” Simone says. “For 65,000 years, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women have sustained our babies through breastfeeding for the first four years and beyond of the baby’s life. So, we spoke with local mothers and Elders to understand recent experiences and what support actually helps.”
The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends exclusive breastfeeding for babies up to six months, and continued breastfeeding, along with complementary foods for up to two years and beyond.2 However, fewer than 87 percent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander mothers initiate breastfeeding, with that rate reducing sharply to 30 percent between one and six months of age, due to a lack of culturally appropriate support.3
Simone says the women’s feedback revealed that their breastfeeding challenges were believed to be tied to the impacts of colonisation and historically high rates of child removals, which had contributed to the disruption of passing down of breastfeeding knowledge across generations.
“Some mums had never seen anyone in their family breastfeed and felt isolated,” Simone says. “Others feared judgement or even child removal if they admitted struggling. There is also currently no Aboriginal-specific lactation training in Australia, and existing services are often expensive or considered culturally unsafe.”
In response, Simone worked with the community to develop a holistic breastfeeding program. It included weekly mums’ groups, Aboriginal health worker support, lactation-trained GPs, free pumps with breastmilk education, and a Facebook group plus after-hours phone support.
“We also held an on-Country breastfeeding photoshoot and exhibition to inspire more mums, and to bring visibility back to the practice of breastfeeding,” Simone says.
“In a few months, around 87 percent of the mums had reached their breastfeeding goals – which were usually to breastfeed for between six and 12 months – by being surrounded with the right care and support.”
The team has also received requests from other communities across NSW to share these initiatives.
Closing the food gap
Simone is now working with PhD candidate Caroline Deen to address a lack of food security data for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, with funding from the University of Sydney’s Charles Perkins Centre.
Caroline, a proud Kamilaroi woman, has a background in nutrition and dietetics. “I’m visiting communities whose voices haven’t been heard in food security literature,” she says, “asking what they think should be measured.”
The pair are also collaborating with Māori researchers in New Zealand and are hoping to connect with Canadian First Nations researchers.
One issue they have come up against is what Caroline describes as the “highly inappropriate” application of a US-developed food security measurement tool – the USDA’s Household Food Security Survey Module – to the Australian context.
“It doesn’t capture the nuanced experiences of Indigenous peoples,” she explains. “It raised concerns, because it asks questions around not being able to feed your children, and that’s related to reasons that First Nations children were taken away in the past, so a lot of people didn’t feel safe answering those questions.”
Simone adds: “A key issue is we don’t even collect proper food security data in these communities.” There’s a saying, ‘No data, no problem.’ But food insecurity has been a very big problem for a long time.
“I hope our work will inform monitoring and evaluation of food security – and hopefully, the development of appropriate strategies and targets – to contribute to building more reliable food systems across Australia.”
Caroline Deen (left) and Dr Simone Sherriff (right) are exploring community‑led solutions to address food insecurity in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities
50
automatic
LinkSources
1. CHOICE media release, 31/10/24.
2. World Health Organisation, 2025.
3. 2022–23 National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Health Survey