After a public outcry, Prime Minister Scott Morrison has stepped in to restore funding to the major emergency food supplier Foodbank after its Key Staples budget was cut in half.
Mr Morrison tweeted: “Yesterday I promised to review the Foodbank decision. I have listened and decided to increase the Food Relief budget by $1.5 million over the next 4.5 years and have asked the Minister to place more focus on relief in drought affected areas.”
Foodbank ceo Brianna Casey said this would put Foodbank back on an equal footing with the other charities after the government decided to spread its food emergency funding among three charities instead of two. The new beneficiary was Oz Harvest.
Ms Casey said the backflip was a "massive relief".
"As a sector, we are trying to feed more than 4 million Australians, who at some point are struggling with food insecurity," she said.
Earlier in the day Families and Social Services Minister Paul Fletcher said he was reviewing the decision and would consider bridging money for Foodbank as the charity was given just six weeks notice of the cuts.
But Mr Morrison has stepped in to fully overturn the original funding decision, which was based on a tender process, of which Foodbank is highly critical.
The cut left many aghast as more than 33 per cent of Foodbank’s charity groceries go to regional and rural Australia, which is suffering in the drought.
A large part of Foodbank’s parcels are made up of donated farm produce meaning it turns a $750,000 grant into $8 million worth of goods for families.