Every Tasmanian deserves access to quality food
The Tasmanian food sector is fundamental to our health, our wellbeing and our connection with communities. Every Tasmanian deserves ongoing equitable access to quality food that respects dignity, culture and choice.
The Tasmanian Government is focused on building food resilient communities and is working towards building a more sustainable food system that ensures all Tasmanians have access to nutritious, affordable and appropriate food. Both during periods of hardship and in everyday life.
Building Food Resilient Communities: Tasmania’s Food Security Strategy 2025-2031 guides and shapes Tasmania’s approach to food resilience.
The strategy continues Tasmania's journey from short-term relief to long-term food resilience. A new action plan is under development and will underpin the strategy. It will build on the progress made under the Food Relief to Food Resilience Action Plan 2023-2025 (PDF 2.7MB).
It reflects the voices of the sector, Tasmanian Government agencies, organisations and people with lived experience who have directly felt the life impacts of food insecurity. It also incorporates findings from the independent review and analysis of Tasmanian food environment (PDF 144.4KB).
The strategy sets the course to ensure Tasmanians can access food relief when they require it. It supports community-led solutions that build local resilience and will be underpinned by a new action plan to be released in 2026.
The strategy continues to move from emergency food relief to food resilience and works to tackle food insecurity in a more systemic and sustainable way focusing on four enablers to help achieve our vision:
- governance, partnerships and collaboration
- effective food relief and resilience approaches
- sustainable community-led solutions
- data and measurement.
About food security, relief and resilience
Food security
Food security exists when all people, at all times, have physical, social and economic access to food. This food should be safe, healthy, sufficient and meet cultural needs, dietary needs, and food preferences for an active and healthy life.
Food relief
Food relief refers to providing food to people in need. It may be delivered through things like:
- hampers
- community meals
- food vans
- low-cost food outlets or pantries
- vouchers or gift cards.
Food relief in Tasmania is provided by:
- Food relief providers: Charitable community organisations who deliver food directly to people. Food relief may be their main role, or one part of broader services.
- Food relief distributors: Larger organisations that collect, sort and distribute donated or extra food to providers across the state.
Food resilience
Food resilience refers to how well individuals, communities and systems can prepare for, respond to and recover from disruptions to food access. A resilient food system makes sure everyone can continue to access safe and adequate food, even during times of stress (whether caused by climate events, economic hardship or logistical disruptions).
Access to food relief
FindHelpTas shows food relief support options across Tasmania.
You may also wish to contact your local food relief service provider including:
- Eat Well Tasmania
- FoodBank Tasmania
- Gran’s Van
- Launceston City Mission
- Loaves and Fishes Tasmania
- St Vincent de Paul Society Tasmania
Neighbourhood Houses can also assist with immediate food support.
Support for the food relief sector
As we continue to transition to food resilience, we also continue to support food relief services in Tasmania. The Tasmanian Government funds several key food relief and resilience initiatives and services including:
- emergency food relief services, including food vans
- school lunch box and breakfast programs
- community place-based pilots
- capital infrastructure
- education programs.
Many community-based organisations, food relief organisations and Neighbourhood Houses have also been supported to offer food relief through competitive grant programs.
Tasmanian Community Food Relief Grants Program
The Tasmanian Community Food Relief Grants Program funds not-for-profit community organisations that provide food relief directly to members of their local community. These grants support these organisations to provide more direct food relief to people in need. Funds are to be used for food relief, including ready-to-eat meals or food hampers.
Further information about the program is on the Service Tasmania website. If you would like to be notified when this program opens next, sign up to receive grant alerts via email.
Tasmanian Food Relief Capital Investment Grants Program
The Tasmanian Food Relief Capital Investment Grants Program provides funding through small and large grant rounds to food relief providers for capital projects, including:
- capital works to food relief premises, including infrastructure upgrades, renovations, construction or building improvements
- outright (freehold) purchasing of a food relief premises
- purchasing and installing inbuilt commercial cooking or storage solutions.
Further information about the program is on the Service Tasmania website. If you would like to be notified when this program opens next, sign up to receive grant alerts via email.