Gather + Grow
Gather + Grow is focussed on improving food security in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Far North Queensland and the Lower Gulf through a combination of local and whole-of-system actions.
In partnership, we are building a multi-strategic response to improve food security by addressing its barriers and amplifying community strengths. We are engaging with communities, and across sectors, to identify and implement solutions that will have meaningful, lasting impact.
The challenge
Food security
Food Security is defined by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) as, “when all people, at all times, have physical and economic access to sufficient safe and nutritious food that meets dietary needs and food preferences for an active and healthy life”.
Lack of food security is at the heart of a 15 per cent health gap between Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and other Australians, leading to poor nutrition: a major factor in cardiovascular disease, cancer and diabetes.
The Strategy
Gather + Grow 2023-2032
Gather + Grow 2023–2032 (PDF, 2.75MB) is the Queensland Government’s strategy to address food security in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island communities. Health and Wellbeing Queensland has led the development of this strategy through co-leadership with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and in close partnership with stakeholders across sectors and government. The key dimensions of food security that Gather + Grow is addressing to provide consistent access to affordable, nutritious food are:
Healthy food is available in communities
Healthy food is affordable
Healthy food is chosen and prepared
THE FIRST ACTION PLAN
Gather + Grow Action Plan 2023-2026
The first Action Plan, the Gather + Grow Action Plan 2023–2026 (PDF, 2.66MB), focusses on co-ordinating action in the state’s Far North and Lower Gulf and setting Queensland up for a healthier, fairer future.
With skilled health promotion teams based in both Brisbane and Cairns, Health and Wellbeing Queensland has been delivering this action plan through partnerships across sectors and with all tiers of government. As the strategy enters into the next phase, Health and Wellbeing Queensland will continue to lead a collective effort to address remote food security with communities at its centre.
Gather + Grow 2023–2032 outlines a whole-of-system approach to improve food security across four community-identified priority areas:
optimising supply chain performance, resilience and logistics to ensure quality, affordable, healthy food is consistently available year-round
improving the accessibility and availability of healthy food by creating supportive settings for sustainable local food production
empowering communities to choose and prepare healthy food by building awareness, capability and environments for good nutrition
supporting healthy homes that enable the use of healthy food with reliable and functional facilities and equipment (for example, working fridges and cooktops).
The Remote Food Security Framework provides the context as to how Gather + Grow is working with communities and community organisations to influence systemic changes that will have positive impacts on individuals and families.
Through multi-strategic across-sector action, Gather + Grow 2023-2032 supports progress towards the National Agreement on Closing the Gap, Making Tracks towards health equity with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and broader health equity priorities by strengthening culturally appropriate prevention systems and reducing food insecurity.
Logistics and supply chain
Diet cost and affordability in Queensland
Health and Wellbeing Queensland is monitoring the cost and affordability of diets – two important factors of food security. Using an evidence-based protocol, we have collected and analysed data about the cost and affordability of healthy and usual (proxy) diets across Queensland. The project provides insight into diet-related cost-of-living pressures across Queensland, highlights areas at greatest food security risk and can be used to guide solutions.
Understanding the journey from paddock to plate
The supply chain, which covers the end-to-end supply from paddock to plate, is a key challenge for food security. Health and Wellbeing Queensland, in partnership with the Torres and Cape Indigenous Council Alliance and Arup Australia, developed a study to build a picture of healthy food supply chains to remote communities. A supply chain map provides a basis for further analysis and data-based decision making to address the issue of food security in remote communities.
Supply chain optimisation: Reducing waste and redistributing nutrition
In Australia, over 2 million tonnes of food is wasted along the cold chain. Amongst other factors, poor supply chain efficiency, resilience and co-ordination drive this waste. Food supply chains across Queensland traverse large geographical areas and operate in a challenging climate. Particularly, supply chains to remote communities which span over almost 4,000km and can involve up to 20 touch points.
The distance and complexity of these supply chains contribute to waste and have flow-on impacts for industry, community nutrition and food security. Cold chains that supply nutritious food across Queensland are at particularly high risk for disruption. They contribute to the $3.8 billion loss of food waste annually. This project will see a multi-agency collaborative work together to identify the mechanisms to improve food security and reduce food waste and loss in Australia’s food chain by 160,000 tonnes by 2033. The outcomes will inform policy recommendations that have the potential to better support the 720,000 Queensland households impacted by food insecurity, particularly those in remote Queensland.
Local food production
Local food production
The Yarrabah Aboriginal Shire Council, Health and Wellbeing Queensland and the University of Sunshine Coast have partnered to bring Foodcubes, a small-scale gardening project to the local community. The pilot project connected local families with home and community gardening, enabling them to grow and cook their own fresh produce. Beyond providing fresh produce, Foodcubes fostered social and emotional wellbeing by encouraging physical activity and community connection.
Healthy communities
Gather + Grow Healthy Stores
Grocery stores can be full of unhealthy food and drinks, which makes it hard for people to choose food and drinks that support their health and wellbeing. The Healthy Stores Project aims to shake up these food retail environments and empower customers to make healthier choices. In partnership with Community Enterprise Queensland, Health and Wellbeing Queensland is working to build the capacity and capability of remote food stores to make healthier retail environments a reality for remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Healthy Ways Campaign
Health and Wellbeing Queensland is proud to partner with Community Enterprise Queensland on the Healthy Ways Campaign as part of our shared commitment under Gather + Grow. Through funding and evaluation support, we are working alongside CEQ to strengthen healthy food environments in Torres Strait and Cape York Peninsula communities, building on the cultural strengths, traditional knowledge, and community aspirations that have sustained health and wellbeing for generations. The Healthy Ways Campaign uses a social marketing approach, with healthy themes and messaging that encourages community members to make positive food choices. This collaboration reflects the spirit of Gather + Grow: increasing access to healthy, affordable, and culturally appropriate food for all communities.
Evidence based campaigns
Healthy homes
Research and campaigns for Gather + Grow, delivering real outcomes for Queenslanders.
Healthy Homes data collection
Healthy homes data is collected as part of Health and Wellbeing Queensland’s broader diet cost and affordability data collection, using an evidence-based protocol across Queensland. This provides insight into the home environment conditions that contribute to food security risk in remote communities.
Healthy Homes messaging
The Healthy Ways Campaign in CEQ stores across Torres Strait and Cape York Peninsula includes a dedicated healthy homes theme, promoting key messages on the relationship between a healthy home and community health to families in a trusted community setting where they live, shop, and gather.
The FUTURE
Food security leadership
We’re connecting with existing governance structures, stakeholders and forums to ensure a comprehensive strategy and action plan to guide a resilient and stable food supply.
In June 2020, we made a submission and a further Response to the Standing Committee on Indigenous Affairs into the Federal Parliamentary Inquiry into food pricing and food security in remote Indigenous communities.
The Report and recommendations out of the Inquiry were published in December 2020 and despite known significant food security issues, the report also shone a light on collaborative practices to get food to where it needed to be, brought on by the COVID-19 pandemic.
In October 2021, in partnership with the Torres and Cape Indigenous Council Alliance and the Local Government Association of Queensland, we delivered a series of Remote Food Security Roundtables focused on three priority areas; freight and supply chain, healthy housing and economic development. The learnings and practices uncovered by the roundtables and the Inquiry is what Gather + Grow is working to harness and amplify.
In 2025, the National Indigenous Australians Agency released its National Strategy for Food Security in Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities. The Strategy highlights the need for our continued support for food security in Queensland’s remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Contact
If you have questions about Gather + Grow, or are interested in working with us to progress food security, we would love to hear from you. Please contact us at hwqld_gathergrow@hw.qld.gov.au.
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