Remote communities hit hard by soaring grocery prices
If rising cost of living seems bad in the city - spare a thought for those living far out in the bush. In one remote community, in the centre of the Northern Territory, a bottle of milk can cost two to three times more than in the big smoke.
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00:00 Almost 3,000 kilometres from Sydney, the cost of living crisis has still managed to grip
00:07 this tiny Northern Territory town.
00:10 Santa Teresa is known as Ginger Porter to the 600 Aboriginal people who call it home.
00:17 There are no million dollar houses here, but the price of groceries rivals that of a specialist suburban deli.
00:24 Fresher foods and it's cheaper, a lot cheaper. Whereas in the community store, you know, two, three hundred doesn't get you much.
00:34 Annalisa Young has taken the drastic step of a two hour round trip to Alice Springs to save money on her fortnightly shop for her and four kids.
00:44 When I shop in town I know there's a big difference, you know. I can feed the kids, feed the family more and it lasts up until the next payday.
00:53 Experts say remote communities bear the brunt of expensive freight costs and the lack of competition with those high prices passed on to consumers.
01:04 Goods in the bush can cost up to three times more than they would in cities and towns.
01:10 You can get trapped in this cycle where you're spending so much of your income on the sheer basics that you have to forego other things, perhaps health care.
01:19 It's not just in remote communities where people are feeling the pinch. This food bank here in Alice Springs is seeing more people through its doors and other food banks around the country are reporting the same.
01:31 Between now and last year's same time we have grown by 20 percent just here in Alice Springs and we can see many more customers coming from more remote areas.
01:42 Foodbank says in some of its sites in Victoria and Western Australia demand has grown up to 200 percent.
01:49 We are here to help them and make sure that in particular our children, our future is secured with food.
01:57 A welcome message for those in need.
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