A worsening food insecurity crisis is devastating Halls Creek, one of Western Australia's most disadvantaged communities, with children going hungry and families unable to afford basic groceries, local leaders say.
Dilly Butters, a mother of five, said children are skipping meals daily because the only supermarket charges exorbitant prices: a single steak costs up to $25, watermelon up to $20, and a dozen eggs around $13. “You cannot survive in Halls Creek,” she said. “We just feel hopeless. We’re fighting a losing battle.”
The Halls Creek shire council has written to Prime Minister Anthony Albanese requesting federal funding to build a community-owned grocery store. Shire president Malcolm Edwards said the council has spent four years trying to attract a business partner without success. With only 21 residential ratepayers, the shire cannot fund construction alone.
The plea comes as the federal government released a 10-year remote Indigenous food security strategy, which includes a governing body to improve supply chains and a $50 million subsidy to match prices of 30 essential items at about 150 remote stores. However, the shire’s chief executive, Susan Leonard, called the strategy a “good start” but said it should aim higher. “We should never have a situation in Australia where people are not getting healthy meals at least three times a day.”
Halls Creek is ranked among the bottom 1% of disadvantaged populations in Australia, with a 24% unemployment rate. One IGA supermarket serves 4,000 people in the town and seven surrounding communities. Families like Butters’ make an eight-hour round trip to Kununurra to buy in bulk, or purchase whole cows from cattle stations to share. Many families live on $200 a fortnight after rent and bills, surviving on cereal, noodles, and flour for damper.
