The rise of food inequality in Australia

Abstract

This chapter describes the factors unique to Australia that both describe and report on the impact on food inequality. The context for food inequality and the measures used to give an insight are briefly described. Australia is often referred to as the ‘lucky country’. In 1964, Donald Horne wrote The Lucky Country, using the term ironically to highlight that Australia was simply lucky rather than clever as it had reaped the benefits of technological, economic, social and political innovations developed in other countries that were clever. The chapter concludes with a discussion about the future challenges of food inequity in Australia. The chapter will address the following issues: (1) The uniqueness of the Australian situation and how this impacts on food inequality. (2) How the issue/problem of food inequality is represented by government in a ‘lucky country’ like Australia. (3) The challenges for food inequality in developed countries like Australia. (4) What would a comprehensive Food and nutrition monitoring systems that report on food inequality look like?