The release of the 2025 Foodbank Hunger Report has starkly shown that Australia’s cost-of-living crisis is far from over with one in three (or 3.5 million) Australian households experiencing food insecurity in the past year.

The alarming figures confirm going hungry has become an increasingly mainstream concern with employed, renting and mortgage-holding households and families all reporting food insecurity, as cost-of-living pressures continue to bite.

This concerning situation is occurring as an estimated 7.6 million tonnes of food continues to go to waste in Australia each year – 70 percent of which is edible – at an estimated cost of $36.6 billion to the Australian economy.

Horticultural produce is estimated to account for some 33 per cent of national food waste, with supermarket rejection of fresh produce resulting in estimated losses of $27.9 million for growers each year – or roughly 14 million kilos of fruit and vegetables that never reach the consumer.

Increasing food insecurity and ongoing food waste, has also re-emphasised the need to incentivise growers to donate surplus or rejected, edible produce to food charities.

Previous efforts to establish a National Food Donation Tax Incentive last year were derailed when a Senate Economics Committee raised concerns the concessions contained in Western Australian Senator Dean Smith’s Private Members Bill could disproportionately benefit big corporates.

However, in indicating support for a National Food Donation Tax Incentive in our submission to this Private Members Bill, AUSVEG emphasised that with the right arrangements and guardrails in place, such an initiative could deliver benefits.

These benefits include providing growers with financial compensation to donate rejected produce that may otherwise go to waste, supporting charitable organisations, and improving food security for millions of Australians.

To achieve this, AUSVEG also emphasised the need to ensure growers retain autonomy and agency to decide what to do with rejected produce and receive the tax incentive when opting to donate. Further, donated produce should be exempt from horticultural levies, and AUSVEG also proposed expanding the types of businesses and charitable organisations eligible to participate.

The Private Members Bill proposed three tiers of offset – 45 percent for a company with an aggregated turnover of less than $20 million; 40 percent for a company with turnover of at least $20 million and less than $50 million, and 30 precent for all other companies.

AUSVEG also called for the upper limit of the middle (40 percent) tier to be expanded to turnover of up to $250 million, with the 30 percent offset to apply to turnover above that amount, to allow the largest possible range of vegetable growing businesses to participate and realise the intended benefits.

With inflation ticking back up, food insecurity on the rise and growers continuing to face a range of severe, viability threatening cost and economic pressures, AUSVEG is backing renewed calls for a National Food Donation Tax Incentive.