ALPA to lead national Nutrition Workforce program

ALPA is proud to be leading a national initiative that puts community health and nutrition at the centre of remote store operations.  

The First Nations Nutrition Workforce will strengthen food security and improve health outcomes in remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities by building local capacity and supporting healthier store environments. 

Funded by the National Indigenous Australians Agency (NIAA), the program is a key action in the Federal Government’s National Strategy for Food Security in Remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Communities. 

Supporting nutrition leadership in communities  

This investment will support the creation of 106 new roles in remote community stores over the 3-year program, with 21 positions available this financial year. Stores will employ a dedicated Good Food Person — a First Nations team member whose core role is to support health and nutrition in their community through their local stores. These team members will be trained and supported by nutritionists to build skills in areas like fresh fruit and vegetable preparation and display, creating healthy takeaway options, completing nutrition policy checks, running in-store health promotion activities, and understanding the link between food and chronic disease. 

ALPA has been selected to deliver the program across our own stores and will oversee the implementation with other large store management groups, Community Enterprise Queensland (CEQ) and Outback Stores (OBS).  

From ALPA Chairperson Mätjarra Garrawurra: 

“It’s a manymak [good] thing for people to be working together for the health of our people” said ALPA Chairperson Mätjarra Garrawurra.  

“It [the ALPA Nutrition Strategy] has been happening before. This is making it stronger, creating djama [work] so people can focus on healthy ŋatha [food] because we’ve got a lot of sick people and we are trying to encourage them to focus on healthy foods.” 

“This [creating more jobs in the area of stores nutrition] is creating yindi [big] space for more people…encouraging people to have this djama [work]”.  

“It’s a good thing for Yolŋu, doing djama [work] and on the job training”.   

“It’s giving interest to people, encouraging them to be there and choosing jobs in this area”.

Building on ALPA’s nutrition focus 

Nutrition has been an integral part of our work at ALPA, employing our first nutritionist nearly 20 years ago, with strong and consistent support from our Board of Directors and our first Nutrition Policy created in the early 1980s. 

Over the past two years, our Nutrition team has worked to refresh and grow the program—developing online training tools, videos, and practical resources to support our teams on the ground. 

The First Nations Nutrition Workforce builds on this foundation. It’s an opportunity to expand our impact by creating store environments that make healthy choices easier, while also recognising and building on the leadership and knowledge that already exists in remote communities.  

We’re proud to be part of this national effort to improve food security for remote community members, and we’re grateful to the ALPA Board for their continued commitment to health and nutrition.