At the City of Casey we know that environmental, economic, and social issues can impact people’s access to food. Studies have shown (including those conducted by VicHealth in 2022) that a lack of access to fresh, quality and nutritious food can have a lasting impact on an individual’s physical and mental health and their ability to lead an active lifestyle.

Council is developing a Food Security Framework for Action and is seeking input from the community to prioritise projects and initiatives that will help improve access to nutritious, affordable, and culturally appropriate food for all Casey residents.

The aim is to create positive change in the local food system to achieve wider health, social, economic, and environmental sustainability benefits for the whole community.

Your input into the development of the Framework is important. By sharing your local knowledge, you will help shape our focus on improving food security in Casey.

You can view a short video here on Casey's Circular Economy and Food Security.

Supporting vulnerable people in our community

During the 2020 COVID lockdown around 20 per cent of all Victorians were worried about having enough money to buy food. Cost of living pressures – food price inflation, mortgage rate increases, rental increases, and petrol price increases as well as climate change effects are further impacting residents’ ability to eat food that is nutritious, affordable and culturally appropriate.

In Casey many residents do not live within easy walking distance of fresh food stores and in some areas, there is a lack of culturally appropriate food available.

Council has an important role to play in the health and wellbeing of residents. They can influence the food available in local neighbourhoods, and how residents access them, through their planning and regulatory activities, local community facilities, programs and events.

As we develop the Food Security Framework, we are asking the community to share their local knowledge to help shape Council’s focus on improving food security in Casey.

Survey

Please complete the survey below to tell us what you know about the supply of fresh food across Casey. The survey will take you around 5 minutes to complete, and the consultation remains open until 12.00 pm 24 February 2023.

To thank you for contributing to this important work, everyone who completes the survey will be automatically entered into the draw for a chance to win one of four $50 Westfield e-vouchers.