00:00It's dinner time at Dust Up in the Western Desert.
00:06This school carnival is one of the most remote in the country.
00:10Feeding all the participants is a massive job.
00:14We all do better when we've had something decent to eat.
00:17This caterer has been feeding everyone at Dust Up for years by tracking in more than
00:22a tonne of food from Perth.
00:24And these beautiful people out here have very limited access to fresh food and that's a
00:30scary thing.
00:31I'm here in remote Western Australia at the community of Warrakoona, which is about an
00:36hour's drive from the Northern Territory border.
00:39Food has to travel about 2000km from Perth to get here and by the time it arrives it's
00:44often not in great shape.
00:47The pandemic, the cost of living crisis and extreme weather events have compounded food
00:52security issues in remote communities, steering people towards cheaper, nutrient-poor foods.
00:59That's taking a terrible toll on health, with First Nations people having one of the highest
01:03rates of diabetes in the world and experiencing kidney failure at 20 times the rate of the
01:09wider population.
01:11The Federal Government plans to release its first national strategy for food security
01:15in remote communities next year.
01:18Researchers hope it will promote bush foods and access to community gardens and farms.
01:23The reason why our First Nations communities are so unwell is because they're not eating
01:27their traditional diet.
01:28We've got to change that.
01:31Daisy Jupandari Ward is a big believer in two-way learning, where children are taught
01:36Western education and traditional knowledge.
01:39That includes learning about bush foods.
01:43It could also help avoid a lot of heartache.
01:46We need to try and help young kids.
01:51And these people are now counting on the government to help make that a priority.
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