Politicians are dangerously undervaluing the role of food rescue in feeding their communities amidst the current cost of living crisis. That’s according to the Aotearoa Food Rescue Alliance, based on responses from major political parties to its Nourishing Aotearoa Manifesto.

According to AFRA’s Engagement and Partnerships Lead, Iain Lees-Galloway, Food rescue is the most effective way to get quality food to people in need. But without consistent funding, there is a real risk that food rescue organisations will be forced to close their doors.

“Sadly, political parties don’t seem to value the vital role these community organisations play in supporting their communities as much as their constituents. When asked to commit Government funding to food rescue, no political party apart from the Greens made a firm commitment. Voters will be disappointed to hear that the people asking for their votes don’t value these treasured local organisations,” he said.

AFRA formally requested responses from ACT, the Greens, National, Labour, New Zealand First, Te Pāti Māori, and The Opportunities Party, to its Nourishing Aotearoa manifesto. This manifesto urged political parties to back three critical policies to enable community-based food rescue organisations to keep getting surplus food to those in need: sustainable funding, a food plan for New Zealand, and mandatory food waste reporting.

New Zealand First, Te Pāti Māori, and The Opportunities Party didn’t respond to AFRA’s request. The full responses from the parties that responded can be viewed here and below is a snapshot that AFRA has interpreted from each party's response.

The responses have been distilled into a “traffic light” system, with green referring to a clear commitment, orange referring to positive sentiment and red referring to no policy or a negative response.

Every day members of the Aotearoa Food Rescue Alliance (AFRA) distribute over 20 tonnes of quality surplus food to communities in need. That’s enough to feed almost 10,000 households an entire day’s worth of nutritious, quality food, which otherwise would have ended up in landfills. That also saves an additional 56,000 kgs of greenhouse gas emissions daily.

"Food Rescue is one way local communities look after each other. When I travel through Aotearoa New Zealand it’s heartening to hear the value individuals place on their local food rescue organisation. When most Wellingtonians hear the name Kaibosh, or Cantabrians hear the name Kairos, they know these organisations and recognise the vital community role they play. It’s time politicians do the same, and hold the valuable environmental and social role of food rescue in the same esteem as their constituents," Iain Lees-Galloway concluded.

For full details of the manifesto and responses visit: https://afra.org.nz/nourishing-aotearoa/

About AFRA

The Aotearoa Food Rescue Alliance (AFRA) is a network of 34 food rescue organisations that work collaboratively to tackle two of the most significant issues facing New Zealand right now – the cost of living and climate change. Learn more at https://afra.org.nz/

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