It’s just before dusk and a warm breeze is blowing off the Gulf of Carpentaria, carrying the voices of the Yunkaporta family in Wik Mungkan across the top of the scrub.
Bare-footed and waist-high in the grass, they collect what looks like clumps of bird’s nests.
This is not a traditional practice, but a more contemporary way to make ends meet.
The Yunkaportas, just like many other families in Aurukun, are collecting grass seeds to sell to mining giant Rio Tinto.
The scene is peaceful but freighted with symbolism; they stuff the seeds into reusable shopping bags, and most of the money they earn will be spent on groceries.
The Yunkaporta family can potentially make thousands of dollars if they collect enough seeds. (ABC News: James Vyver)
As Eloise Yunkaporta watches on with her baby daughter nestled on her hip, she says the cost of living crisis is hitting her community hard.
“A weekly shop would cost me about $1,000 for only seven or eight bags of shopping,” she says.
“I do my shopping for the whole family, all the meat and vegetables, fruit … the basic needs for our household and [the cost] just blows my mind.”
Aurukun Shire Council member Eloise Yunkaporta can spent $1,000 a week on her weekly shop. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)
Wik Elder Aunty Phylis Yunkaporta, Eloise’s mother, says the community has to find ways to keep the cost of living down.
“I feel people in mainstream communities have no understanding of what goes on in Aboriginal communities and what we face every day,” she says.
“In Aurukun we struggle; the food I buy, I have to share with the family next door.
“Nobody goes hungry.”
Aurukun is on the western side of Cape York and can be cut off by road for several months during the wet season. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)
‘Ridiculous’ prices hitting Aurukun families
Aurukun is one of the most disadvantaged communities in the country; the median weekly income for a household of four here is $1,000.
The town’s Island and Cape supermarket/general store and the Kang Kang Cafe takeaway services the population of around 1,100 people.
When the ABC visits Aurukun in May, the prices listed on the supermarket shelves are notably higher.
“It’s ridiculous,” says Eloise.
“I would rather look after my family than the whole family to starve, but as a community it’s hard living.”
A loaf of bread in Aurukun can be as much as $7-8; a 1.8kg frozen beef roast around $80 and a bag of frozen vegetables $8.
Aussie staples like Vegemite, Weet-Bix and Bushells Tea bags are approximately 50 per cent more expensive. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)
Some fresh produce is double or even triple the price advertised online by major supermarkets; a bunch of broccolini is $6.19 compared to $2 at Woolies; oranges are $7.15 per kg compared to $6.90 for a 3kg bag at Coles.
Aussie staples like Vegemite, Weet-Bix and Bushells Tea bags are approximately 50 per cent more expensive.
High sugar items like soft drink are priced as part of a ‘nutrition strategy’; a four pack of premium lemonade is around $25 in Aurukun compared to $7.50 listed online by the major supermarkets.
A 10 x 375ml pack of Coke is around $40, compared to $12-20 online.
The Queensland state government subsidises the cost of fruit and vegetables, meat, dairy, frozen goods and other groceries to remote communities on Cape York.
A discount of 20 per cent is applied at the check-out to most of the items listed above, but not those high in sugar.
In May, locals described how feeding a family here can cost thousands of dollars a month, even after state subsidies.
“Most of our families receive family tax benefits and it’s not much to get them through several weeks,” Eloise said.
“It’s all spent in one, two days.”Nappies, coffins and everything in between
Aurukun’s general store sits in the centre of the community and is roughly the size of a small supermarket you would find in a major city.
It’s part of the Island and Cape chain, owned by the not-for-profit Arnhem Land Progress Aboriginal Corporation (ALPA).
Aurukun has just one supermarket selling everything from frozen food to freezers. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)
Alastair King, the CEO of ALPA, says it is fair for people to question the prices in town, but the stores have to remain profitable or risk closing.
“A remote supermarket is everything to everyone … we’ve got a cater for newborn babies, children, as well as carry coffins for end of life,” he says.
“If you talk to any retail operator in a remote community, our margins are more compressed than they’ve ever been.”
Cape and Island have six stores spread across Cape York and the Torres Strait Islands.
Mr King says they don’t have the same buying power as the larger chains.
“We buy through wholesalers [or] via manufacturers and we pay 20 to 30 per cent more than the big supermarkets, so the starting price is higher.
“Then on top of that [you’ve got] to get your product out to the community.”
Aurukun is on the western side of Queensland’s Cape York and is classified as ‘very remote’ by the ABS.
Food, fuel and other supplies arrive in Aurukun via a mixture of road, air and sea barge, which further adds to prices.
Aurukun is surrounded by rivers and marshland, even during the dry season. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)
“The wet season is always a struggle; we operate stores that last year were cut off [by road] for 28 weeks, so then we’ve got to fly fresh produce in,” Mr King said.
“The wet season can be quite challenging just to cover those costs.”
When the ABC is in store in May it’s the dry season, so roads are open and fresh produce is available.
But Aunty Phylis says those prices can be beyond some locals operating with a tiny food budget.
“They’d probably only have $20 to go to the supermarket to buy the basic food they’d need for the night to eat.
“In Aurukun, we struggle.”
Rio Tinto and the ‘The Seed Man’
Collecting seeds en masse is not a traditional practice for the Wik people. Once gathered locals will sell the seeds to mining giant Rio Tinto via ‘The Seed Man’, Neale Dahl.
Using shopping bags to collect the seeds helps to keep them dry before selling. Note: The bags are bought in bulk and Woolworths does not operate the supermarket in Aurukun. ( ABC News Billy Cooper)
“We probably collect about 35 or so different species and [locals] are paid various amounts per kilo depending on the difficulty of collecting that seed,” Mr Dahl says.
The seed collection program has been running for around 20 years.
Mr Dahl visits communities across Cape York once a fortnight to weigh the collected seeds.
“During the peak part there can be up to 40 or 50 collectors delivering on a fortnightly basis, I have several hundred on the books across the three communities.
“It’s $300-$350 a kilo for the grass seeds, so some [locals] can get a couple of thousand dollars for the fortnight.”
The seeds are bound for Rio Tinto’s bauxite mine north of Aurukun in Weipa.
The mining operation there is as vast as the company’s multi-billion-dollar profits.
The seeds collected in Aurukun and other communities are used to regenerate the country damaged by mining.
Aunty Phylis says some of the revenue from the bauxite mining should flow back through the Cape’s remote communities.
“I feel there really needs to be some sort of compensation deposited into a fund, to help lessen the load on the families,” she says.
“Because there’s people that are diabetic, that have type two diabetes, heart problems; Aboriginal communities are so prone to getting these diseases because the cost of living is too high.”
Wik Elder, Aunty Phylis Yunkaporta, says most Australians would have little understanding of the cost-of-living challenges in Aurukun. (ABC News: Billy Cooper )
Subsidising the high cost of living
The federal government’s Low-Cost Essentials Subsidy Scheme started in July.
The scheme ensures the price of 30 grocery categories in remote communities “are comparable to prices in urban areas”.
The federal government’s Low-Cost Essentials Subsidy Scheme ensures the price of 30 grocery categories in remote communities ‘are comparable to prices in urban areas’. (ABC News: Billy Cooper)
Minister for Indigenous Australians Malarndirri McCarthy agrees prices in remote stores are “very stark” when compared to the city.
“In particular our remote regions, which is why I’ve pursued the reduction in food prices in remote stores across Australia,” she told the ABC.
“I’ve been very concerned about the high cost of living for families in regional and remote Australia.”
Operators are required to sign up to a code of conduct before accessing the $50 million subsidy scheme.
Some of the items included in the federal government’s Low-Cost Essentials Subsidy Scheme. (Supplied: NIAA)
“We’ve seen over 110 stores sign up to it, and Aurukun is one of those,” she said.
The scheme is administered by the not-for-profit Outback Stores; it told the ABC buying all 30 of the items listed would save someone about $50.
“We compared basket prices at the launch of the Low-Cost Essential Subsidy Scheme in one of the NT stores,” a spokesperson told the ABC in a statement.
“The approximate cost of the selected basket of items decreased from $163 to $109 after applying the savings from the Scheme.
“Overall, savings of between 30 per cent and 50 per cent are being observed.”
The federal government says the basket of items being subsidised could expand in the future.
The ABC has approached Rio Tinto for comment.