Remote Aboriginal leaders urge welfare boost as fuel price spike squeezes food budgets

Remote Aboriginal leaders in the Northern Territory are calling for an urgent increase to welfare supplements after a sharp rise in fuel prices pushed up the cost of freight, food and essential services across the Top End.

The warning comes as farmers and the commercial fishing industry press the federal government for transport subsidies and fuel supply protections, amid fears diesel could become scarce within weeks. The seafood suppliers in Darwin say the cost of filling trawlers has surged, and industry figures are bracing for shortages by mid to late April.

For remote communities, leaders say the crisis is intensifying hardship that was already entrenched. Central Land Council general manager Dr Josie Douglas said the current remote area allowance (paid as a small add-on to income support for people living in remote locations) was not nearly enough when fuel and food prices rise together.

“There is no buffer for Aboriginal people living in remote communities when the cost of fuel goes up and the cost of food goes up,” Douglas said. “The remote area allowance needs to be immediately indexed for CPI and the base rate of the allowance needs to be substantially increased to offset the real cost of living for remote.”

Services Australia lists the remote area allowance at $18.20 a fortnight for single recipients and $15.60 each for couples. The Central Land Council says the payment is not indexed and has failed to keep pace with the higher prices faced by remote households.

In a March statement, the land council said Aboriginal people in some remote communities were paying up to twice as much for fuel as people in cities, with diesel reaching $4 a litre in parts of its region. It warned that even measures welcomed by communities – such as Labor’s low-cost essentials subsidy scheme – could be eroded quickly by global energy shocks.

Industry groups say the squeeze is already hitting food production and jobs. Darwin seafoods supply manager Michael O’Brien said that 40,000 litres of fuel that cost $58,000 at the start of March was now costing $98,000. NT Farmers Association president Simon Smith said a lack of fuel would be catastrophic: “We’d all certainly benefit from assistance with costs, and definitely running out of fuel is a death knell for farmers,” he said.

For Douglas, immediate relief needs to reflect the compounding costs of distance: fuel is not just a household expense, but the price embedded in every carton of groceries, clinic delivery and school run.

Aboriginal leaders are urging Canberra to treat the remote area allowance as a frontline cost-of-living measure, not an afterthought.