Buying enough groceries has become a regular struggle for households across Australia's Northern Territory as the cost of living continues to rise.
Here's what to know
Foodbank Australia estimated that 46% of Northern Territory households faced food insecurity in 2025, compared with 33% nationally, in a cost-of-living report from the NT Council of Social Service, as cited by ABC News.
From 2016 to 2026, the report looked at shifts in the cost of housing, utilities, transport, and food. For remote communities, the report found that a healthy food basket cost 40% more in 2023 at remote stores than at a supermarket.
Grocery store prices have become a regular struggle for Alice Springs grandmother Shirley Napurrula Miller. She receives a disability pension and said, "Sometimes I can't buy groceries, or meat, or anything. I just live on noodles."
According to the report, average monthly disconnections for households on prepaid electricity were 2,284 higher in 2025 than in 2019 to 2020. It said those households are mostly First Nations people in urban and remote public housing, while overall power costs have climbed 18%.
Across major Northern Territory centers, the study counted 103,648 involuntary self-disconnections in 2025.
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More background
Across the period from 2016 to 2026, the report said real incomes have risen, but increases in essential costs have still left many households under intense pressure. The rising cost of basics has forced impossible trade-offs over daily necessities, particularly for people already on low incomes or relying on income support.
Rents in the Northern Territory have risen 55%, while social housing stock grew by just 4% between 2017 and 2025. Over the same period, applications for social housing climbed 37%, widening the gap between demand and supply.
Transport costs are also adding to the burden, with an 80-liter diesel fill costing 28 Australian dollars ($19) more in Darwin and 88 Australian dollars ($61) more in Alice Springs.
Linda Lechleitner, Miller's daughter, who lives between Alice Springs and a remote Aboriginal homeland near Papunya, said native families often borrow from each other to pay for electricity and food, only to fall behind again by the next payment cycle.
Report co-author Jonathan Pilbrow also pointed to what he described as "poverty premiums" that penalize people who cannot afford upfront costs.
He cited car registration as one example, explaining that each payment, whether monthly or yearly, comes with a 16 Australian dollar ($11) administration fee, so people who pay more often also pay more overall.
"You end up paying 164 dollars ($113) more, if you're poor, because you can't afford to pay it upfront," he said.
For Lechleitner, the figures in the report reflect the daily reality many extended families are already living through.
"You're always catering and your food doesn't last long, because you're always feeding other family members that are struggling at the moment as well," she said.
What's being done?
The Northern Territory Council of Social Service is calling on governments to increase key income support payments, including JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, the Parenting Payment, and the Remote Area Allowance for people living in the territory's most remote areas.
Interim chief executive Claire Pirrett said, "By identifying how lives have changed over the last decade for households in the NT, this report also identifies the levers decision-makers can pull to provide relief for families and individuals."
The group also urged an expansion of the federal government's low-cost essentials subsidy scheme. The program applies to 30 staple grocery items in remote stores. The Northern Territory Council of Social Service recommended widening that list to include additional fresh and frozen meat, fruit and vegetables, and nutrient-dense baby food.
Where can I learn more?
Similar cost pressures are driving food insecurity as everyday essentials become harder to afford.
• In Somalia, over 4 million people could face crisis-level hunger as drought worsens.
• Across many households, prices for basic goods keep exploding as relief remains distant.
• Across farm economies, new pressures on food inflation are driving stubbornly higher grocery bills.
• In Dhaka, Bangladesh, soaring vegetable prices have become a burden for shoppers.
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