This audit assessed the effectiveness of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s implementation of food security initiatives for remote Indigenous communities.

The objective of the audit is to assess the effectiveness of the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet’s implementation of food security initiatives for remote Indigenous communities. To conclude on this objective, the ANAO’s high‑level criteria considered the implementation of the National Strategy for Food Security in Remote Indigenous Communities, the management of the Community Stores Licensing Scheme and the management of funding programs supporting selected food security initiatives in the Northern Territory.

Improving the ability of people in remote Indigenous communities to maintain a reasonable and ongoing level of access to a range of food, drink and grocery items that is reasonably priced, safe and of sufficient quantity and quality to meet nutritional and related household needs is recognised as an important contributor to improving Indigenous people’s health status. In line with Australian Government policy, the Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet (DPMC) (and prior to that, the Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs [FaHCSIA]), has implemented initiatives designed to improve food security for Indigenous Australians living in remote communities, predominantly in the Northern Territory.

The report makes four recommendations. These relate to DPMC: 

• providing options to the Australian Government in relation to the parts of the Strategy that are yet to be completed;
• improving the effectiveness of its administration of the Community Stores Licensing Scheme through ensuring the consistency of current store requirements with the SFNT Act and better capturing, consolidating and using performance information to assess regulatory outcomes; and
• considering the departmental grants assessment processes to ensure consistency with published guidelines.