Consumer advocates want to see a price cap on essential food items in remote communities across Australia after mystery shopping found the cost was twice as much as some capital cities.
The remote study was conducted across four Western Australia and Northern Territory First Nations community stores by consumer advocacy organisation CHOICE.
The findings follow similar reports from communities in the Kimberley earlier this year where locals were paying double the price for fuel and basic food items when compared to cities.
The development of the National Strategy for Food Security in Remote First Nations Communities by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA) is expected to be complete in 2025.
Shopping baskets included nine essential items like apples, flour, full-cream milk, and beef mince.
A basket of nine items considered essentials cost twice as much in some remote communities compared to cities. (Supplied: Jarni Blakkarly)
The investigation found across all Australian capital cities the price of the nine essential items at Woolworths, Coles, Aldi, and IGA averaged out to $44.70.
In the four remote communities it was more than double the cost at $99.38.
Products mislabelled or not at all
CHOICE investigative reporter Jarni Blakkarly travelled to the NT's Tiwi Islands and said he found a huge disparity between remote pricing and capital cities like Melbourne.
"We found often the price labels on shelves didn't match the items that were actually there or sometimes for fresh fruit and vegetables there weren't any price displays at all," he said.
The Punmu Community Store is in the remote Great Sandy Desert. (Supplied: Jarni Blakkarly)
Mr Blakkarly said the human impact of food insecurity was significant for communities facing higher prices in grocery stores.
"It was quite common for people to tell me that they often had to skip a meal or two meals at the end of the week because they didn't have enough money to buy food or they had to rely on friends or family," he said.
Mr Blakkarly said CHOICE would be giving evidence next month at the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission's supermarkets inquiry that would include findings from their remote community report.
"When it comes to essential items we think there could be a role for the government to play in helping reduce the costs of getting them out to these remote communities," he said.
"If it is something that is really essential there should be a limit to what people can be expected to pay."
The "stark difference" in pricing was clear to Mr Blakkarly in the Tiwi Islands, where a can of tinned soup was $7, compared to city pricing of around $2.50.
Mr Blakkarly said there was a need for mandatory pricing information on all items and unit pricing to help customers make the best decisions around food purchases.
The store in the Pilbara community of Kunawarritji was one of those where CHOICE examined food prices. (Supplied: Jarni Blakkarly)
While acknowledging the nation-wide pinch in cost-of-living issues, Mr Blakkarly said the report's findings highlighted how these hardships impacted remote communities.
"There is a cohort of people living in these remote First Nations communities who are just doing it so much harder when it comes to being able to afford to put healthy and quality food in front of their families," he said.
Calls for government to cap remote prices
Boandik woman and Mob Strong Debt Help financial counsellor Bettina Cooper travels to remote communities for outreach and has seen the soaring prices firsthand.
"I'd like to say it's shocking to me, but it's not. It's just disappointing," she said.
Ms Cooper said healthier products were often not priced, forcing people leave them on the shelf to avoid any shame at the register if they did not have enough money.
"Often the option is one store, that's it. There is no other store. There is no public transport," she said.
"What you've got in that store is what you've got."
Bettina Cooper is calling for the government to ensure remote stores have monitored, clear pricing, and essentials price-capped. (ABC News: Greg Bigelow)
Ms Cooper said there was currently no regulatory code that could protect people from higher costs and no requirements for pricing remotely.
She said it was important for the federal government to ensure there were prices displayed in remote stores, price monitoring tools, and price caps on essentials.
"It's clear that government needs to step in if they're serious about closing the gap," Ms Cooper said.
"We're talking about over 150,000 First Nations people living in remote communities."
An NIAA spokesperson said recent public consultations regarding the remote food security strategy had included input from 500 people in 31 locations, including feedback on the affordability of food and groceries, and standards of remote community stores.
"Remote retail will be one of the strategy focus areas," they said.
"Actions related to the standard of services provided by remote stores, such as displaying accurate product pricing, and how such actions would be implemented, are being considered in the strategy development."
The spokesperson said the strategy was expected to be finalised in early 2025.