Welcome to the Australian Local Food System Policy Database. This is a collection of policies from New South Wales (NSW) and Victorian local governments that relate to healthy, sustainable, and equitable food systems.
For further information about using the database and how it was created see How to use the database. You can search the database by using the fields below. Domain refers to eight broad categories under which various topics are situated. The domains and topics are based on a framework of recommendations for local government action on creating a healthy, sustainable, and equitable food system (also located on the ‘How to use the database’ page linked above).
To cite the database: Reeve B, Carrad A, Rose N, Charlton K & Aguirre-Bielschowsky I (2021) Australian Local Food System Policy Database. Available at: https://law-food-systems.sydney.edu.au/policy-database (access date).
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Hold Ctrl to select multiple terms. Using ‘any words’ functions as an “OR” search. Using ‘all words’ functions as and “AND” search.
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| Document title | Relevant text in the policy | Domain | Topic | State | Local Government name | Council type |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Our Vision and Mission | Develop and grow local business, including agritourism and intensive agriculture Council participated in an AusVeg Victoria and Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Gardens pilot program to introduce school children to modern vegetable farms. The program focuses on creating connections between local farmers and the community. These new connections will increase awareness of where vegetables are grown and how a modern farm is run utilising robots and scientific principles in action. | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Focusing on diverting food waste from landfill, we relaunched our composting challenge during | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Sixty-seven local artists showcased their works in the Green Wedge exhibition held at Oak Hill Gallery, Merricks House Gallery and at the Council Chambers in Rosebud. | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | The new edition of the ‘Food and other help guide’ was released. Cards with helpful information for those seeking support were distributed throughout the peninsula. | Health and Wellbeing | Education/events on food system issues | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | The objective of Council’s Equal Employment Opportunity Program is to ensure there is no discrimination relating to the characteristics listed under the Equal Opportunity Act 2010 such as age, carer and parental status, disability, employment activity, gender identity, industrial activity, marital status, physical features, pregnancy and breastfeeding, race, religious or political affiliation, gender identity, sex, expunged homosexual conviction or personal association with someone who has, or is assumed to have, one of these personal characteristics | Health and Wellbeing | Breastfeeding | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Support the Best Bites Program Best Bites aims to support and promote local food business in the areas of food safety, healthy eating, sustainability, reduction of tobacco/alcohol and access and inclusion. The program is coordinated in partnership between Mornington Peninsula Shire, Peninsula Health and the Disability Advisory Committee. The Best Bites Awards nomination kit was launched at an information workshop on 7 May 2019. More than 40 businesses participated and learnt more about how to grow their businesses using the Best Bites program | Health and Wellbeing | Encourage existing retailers/caterers to sell healthy, sustainable and affordable food | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Advocate to enhance the productivity of our region throughout the Bunyip Food Belt The Bunyip Food Belt is a large region south east of Melbourne that contains some of Australia’s most fertile and valuable land and produces fresh food for Melbourne’s rapidly growing population. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Develop and grow local business, including agritourism and intensive agriculture Council participated in an AusVeg Victoria and Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Gardens pilot program to introduce school children to modern vegetable farms. The program focuses on creating connections between local farmers and the community. These new connections will increase awareness of where vegetables are grown and how a modern farm is run utilising robots and scientific principles in action. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | In partnership with Western Port Catchment Land Network, Council received a Smart Farming Grant of $180,000 to develop, trial and implement new and innovative tools and farm practices. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Provide skills development and support to food economy businesses, including our agriculture, agritourism and valueadded food production sectors Council presented skills development workshops and activities about planning reforms for animal industries, social media marketing and cellar door marketing. Council invited food businesses to participate in a soil carbon demonstration study – two businesses will be chosen from the submissions. We assessed 11 farm management plans associated with building homes on agricultural land in the Green Wedge zone. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Support rural business through networking and industry development In partnership with Western Port Catchment Landcare Network and Western Port and Port Phillip Catchment Management Authority we staged a regenerative farming field day with guest speaker Charles Massey. Also in partnership with Western Port Catchment Landcare Network and the Victorian Farmers Federation we presented a biosecurity field day with six guest speakers talking about the biggest biosecurity risks for local agricultural industries. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Together with Small Farm Alliance our Economic Development team ran discussion groups for MPP members on topics such as small-scale beef production, organic farming and sustainable agriculture. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable local food production | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Advocate to enhance the productivity of our region throughout the Bunyip Food Belt The Bunyip Food Belt is a large region south east of Melbourne that contains some of Australia’s most fertile and valuable land and produces fresh food for Melbourne’s rapidly growing population. Tyabb and Somerville are intensive food production zones in the Bunyip Food Belt. The potential growth of the horticulture and broader agriculture industry in this area has been restricted by the availability of reliable water for irrigation. The Tyabb Somerville Recycled Water Scheme has been granted $200,000 from both the Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning and South East Water. We have matched this funding bringing the total for this project to $600,000. This will be used to undertake a business case to deliver approximately 1555 megalitres of Class A water to farms in Tyabb and Somerville from South East Water’s eastern treatment plant. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable water management in food production | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Support the agritourism industry on the peninsula In support of the agritourism on the peninsula, Council, in collaboration with Department of Environment, Land, Water and Planning, Agriculture Victoria and South East Water have developed an on-farm water shortage survey for distribution to the local agricultural sector. | Sustainability and Environment | Sustainable water management in food production | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Focusing on diverting food waste from landfill, we relaunched our composting challenge during | Sustainability and Environment | Home and community gardening | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Provide skills development and support to food economy businesses, including our agriculture, agritourism and valueadded food production sectors Council presented skills development workshops and activities about planning reforms for animal industries, social media marketing and cellar door marketing. Council invited food businesses to participate in a soil carbon demonstration study – two businesses will be chosen from the submissions. We assessed 11 farm management plans associated with building homes on agricultural land in the Green Wedge zone. | Sustainability and Environment | Animal husbandry | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Together with Small Farm Alliance our Economic Development team ran discussion groups for MPP members on topics such as small-scale beef production, organic farming and sustainable agriculture. | Sustainability and Environment | Animal husbandry | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Develop and grow local business, including agritourism and intensive agriculture Council participated in an AusVeg Victoria and Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Gardens pilot program to introduce school children to modern vegetable farms. The program focuses on creating connections between local farmers and the community. These new connections will increase awareness of where vegetables are grown and how a modern farm is run utilising robots and scientific principles in action. | Sustainability and Environment | Strengthen food chain connections/distribution | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | drought proofing the Peninsula through a major recycled water project proposal. | Sustainability and Environment | Food supply and food system resilience | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Focusing on diverting food waste from landfill, we relaunched our composting challenge during | Food Waste | Food losses and food waste | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | % of registered class 1 food premises and class 2 food premises that receive an annual food safety assessment $ direct cost of the food safety service per registered food premises | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Food safety Health and safety Critical and major non-compliance notifications [Number of critical non-compliance notifications and major noncompliance notifications about a food premises followed up / Number of critical non-compliance notifications and major noncompliance notifications about a food premises] x100 | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Food Safety Timeliness FS1 Time taken to action food complaints [Number of days between receipt and first response action for all food complaints / Number of food complaints] Service standard FS2 Food safety assessments [Number of registered class 1 food premises and class 2 food premises that receive an annual food safety assessment in accordance with the Food Act 1984 / Number of registered class 1 food premises and class 2 food premises that require an annual food safety assessment in accordance with the Food Act 1984] x100 Service cost FS3 Cost of food safety service [Direct cost of the food safety service / Number of food premises registered or notified in accordance with the Food Act 1984] Health and safety FS4 Critical and major noncompliance outcome notifications [Number of critical noncompliance outcome notifications and major noncompliance notifications about a food premises followed up / Number of 64 89.55% 93.17% 99.56% 98.51% $605.31 $619.68 $675.39 $721.11 91.01% 92.82% 87.50% 98.71% The increase in assessments can be attributed to additional resourcing. 2.19 2.65 | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Service Standard Food safety assessments Service Cost Cost of food safety service Health and Safety Critical and major non-compliance notifications % of critical and major noncompliance outcome notifications that are followed up by Council | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Support the Best Bites Program Best Bites aims to support and promote local food business in the areas of food safety, healthy eating, sustainability, reduction of tobacco/alcohol and access and inclusion. The program is coordinated in partnership between Mornington Peninsula Shire, Peninsula Health and the Disability Advisory Committee. The Best Bites Awards nomination kit was launched at an information workshop on 7 May 2019. More than 40 businesses participated and learnt more about how to grow their businesses using the Best Bites program | Food Quality and Safety | Education on/enforce food safety regulations | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Major Initiatives to 2021 Promote business participation in employment program opportunities for all citizens Progress in FY19 FY19 Status Government employment programs are promoted through mpbusiness.com.au as well as in a fortnightly e-newsletter sent to 2,000 local businesses. Programs promoted include JobsBank (employment of long term unemployed people), Restart (employment of people over 50) and the Seasonal Worker Program where local agricultural businesses can employ people from Timor-Leste. | Economic Development | Food related job creation | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Promote education pathways that lead to employment Council has worked with Chisholm to understand and support training needs through the introduction of the NDIS (National Disability Insurance Scheme). Council provided support to the annual VCAL Cook Off, an event that links the hospitality industry with local students. | Economic Development | Food related job creation | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | delivering the Taste of the Mornington Peninsula event at Parliament House and successfully gained funding form submissions to Business Victoria and the Western Port Catchment Land Authority. | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Develop and grow local business, including agritourism and intensive agriculture Council participated in an AusVeg Victoria and Stephanie Alexander Kitchen Gardens pilot program to introduce school children to modern vegetable farms. The program focuses on creating connections between local farmers and the community. These new connections will increase awareness of where vegetables are grown and how a modern farm is run utilising robots and scientific principles in action. | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |
| Our Vision and Mission | Provide skills development and support to food economy businesses, including our agriculture, agritourism and valueadded food production sectors | Economic Development | Local food initiatives for economic development | Victoria | Mornington | Metropolitan |