Roll-out of the Morrison-McCormack Government’s $200 million COVID-19 community support package has started with food relief providers in the region receiving an extra $772,003 in emergency food packages.
Federal Member for Cowper Pat Conaghan said this was a good further step on top of increasing the JobSeeker unemployment benefit and extending crisis payments to help vulnerable residents struggling to make ends meet during this difficult time of the coronavirus pandemic.
“I know some residents are doing it tough and the $200 million community support package was one of a suite of measures the Federal Government introduced to help people,” he said.
“The cost of food has increased as we are coming off the back of a lengthy drought and demand has increased due to coronavirus.
“Our Government has provided an additional $772,003 to the end of the financial year 2021 to three food relief providers that work across the Mid North Coast, Coffs Harbour and Grafton areas to source and transport food to local Commonwealth-funded emergency relief providers.
“I thank the Minister for Families and Social Services Anne Ruston for providing this additional funding and I thank as well the numerous non-government funded emergency food providers who are continuing to operate in some capacity at the moment to help vulnerable people in our community.”
Food relief providers Foodbank Australia, OzHarvest and SecondBite source and transport food to Commonwealth-funded emergency relief providers locally such as The Salvation Army, Kempsey Neighbourhood Centre and LifeHouse Care centres.
Mr Conaghan said he is continuing to advocate expanding the number of Commonwealth-funded providers in the area and he hopes to see providers such as Shalom House of Hope – The Saving Place in Kempsey and Loaves and Fishes in Coffs Harbour added in the future.
Minister for Families and Social Services Anne Ruston has established a National Coordination Group with State and Territory sub-committees to ensure there is a timely and coordinated approach to emergency relief and food relief across Australia.
The National Coordination Group will comprise key stakeholders from the emergency relief, food relief and financial counselling sectors and will work closely with the Government to identify state and sector issues and needs, and oversee implementation of emergency and food relief across the county. It will also assist in identifying where the remaining $100 million of the coronavirus community support package will be allocated based on need and demand.
For more information visit the Department of Social Services website.
