00:00On a hot day in Maningrida, the local pool offers relief and a free snack for kids.
00:12Some kids don't get enough food at home.
00:14A lot of people come to my house for food. I just give out. That's what I do, I help
00:23people.
00:24Families struggle because grocery prices here, and in other remote areas, are double what
00:30they are in the cities.
00:32It's more the cheap one in Darwin, but not here. It's too expensive.
00:37Community members like Josianne Olsen, dependent on welfare, want Centrelink payments raised.
00:44Sometimes I would worry about my kids to buy feed.
00:51Community organisations can do little to help.
00:54Five hundred dollars on Centrelink for a fortnight. You go to the shop here, that's
00:58your whole pay going for food.
01:00The Indigenous Health Service says food insecurity is putting kids into child protection.
01:05Don't worry, there's a lot of kids taken away because they're not getting fed, because mum
01:11getting a little bit of money and she can't feed, you know.
01:15Local organisations here in Maningrida are doing what they can to tackle the wide-ranging
01:20impacts of high food prices. But they say it's not enough. They need more support and
01:25fast from both the federal and territory governments.
01:29I think the government needs to look at, if you want to be an Australian, you've got to
01:33be fair. It doesn't matter what colour you are, you should be fair. Or how far in Australia
01:39you live, be fair.
01:41The federal government has helped Maningrida's store pay for a forklift to unload its food
01:46barge and for store fridges. The community is waiting anxiously to find out if its two
01:52stores will be among the 76 picked from over 200 that will get some groceries subsidised
02:00from July.
02:00We probably need help from government to put maybe lower prices in our shop.
02:08The territory government gives remote kids free meals at school.
02:13That is important because in school they have healthy food. It's good for their health.
02:20It isn't offering any further food relief to the bush.
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