The Foodbank Hunger Report 2025 found one in three Australian households faced food insecurity — and nearly 3.5 million people. Here is what those numbers look like on the ground in Ipswich, and how we are responding.
The numbers in the Foodbank Hunger Report 2025 are sobering. One in three Australian households — nearly 3.5 million people — experienced food insecurity in the past twelve months. Twenty per cent of households are now classified as severely food insecure, meaning they are regularly skipping meals or going whole days without food. Perhaps most striking, the report found that one in five households earning over $91,000 a year also faced food insecurity. This is no longer just an unemployment story. It is a cost-of-living story.
Behind every statistic is a family in Ipswich making impossible choices between rent, power bills, and the weekly grocery shop. The report noted that almost one in two renting households experienced food insecurity in the past year, and that sixty per cent of households using a Foodbank have some kind of employment. People are working, and still going hungry. That is the reality walking through our doors at 50 Coal Road, Chuwar.
Goodness Enterprises responds to this not with a single program, but with an integrated model. Our Community Food Co-Op operates as a social supermarket where groceries are priced 30 to 60 per cent below retail, with free fresh produce for guests spending $20 or more. There are no eligibility requirements and no referral letters — everyone is welcome, because hunger does not check your paperwork. Every week our team distributes over 14 tonnes of rescued food to 1,200 local families.
Our model also includes the Goodness Regional Food Hub, which distributes rescued food to over 100 community groups across the West Moreton region, and Skilling Queenslanders for Work traineeships that create real career pathways out of hardship. We treat the symptoms and the root causes together.
The Hunger Report makes one thing clear: food insecurity in Australia is an ongoing reality that requires community-wide action. It takes community organisations, local businesses, and everyday people pulling in the same direction. If you want to be part of the response — as a volunteer, a donor, or a Goodness Business Member whose membership feeds a family while growing your own business — there has never been a more important time to step in.
Hayden J. Te Runa
Community Impact Writer, Goodness Enterprises
Hayden is a proud Ipswich local and the voice behind the Goodness Enterprises impact stories. Through the HASSLFREE Digital partnership, he helps local businesses grow online while feeding families across the West Moreton region. His writing focuses on the real people, partnerships, and programs transforming the Ipswich community.
