Assessing food retail access in remote Australia: Revealing an unrepresented setting in the national food retail landscape.

Objectives: Food retail stores servicing remote Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities operate in a diverse and unique context, covering a large geographic area and requiring complex logistics for food retailing. We aimed to describe the diversity of remote food retail in Australia to support advocacy and policymaking.

Methods: A seed list of remote food retail stores created by the National Indigenous Australians Agency was validated and extended, through reviews by 14 stakeholders, during 2022. Cross-sectional data on remoteness, population, legal entity and management were identified.

Results: A population level dataset of 233 stores was created. The Northern Territory had the most stores of any Australian jurisdiction (n=118; 51%). Over one-third of stores were owned by a registered Indigenous Corporation (n=86; 37%), the majority were independently managed (n=127, 54%) and served populations of 1000 or less people (n=199, 85%).

Conclusions: This research provides an easily accessible dataset that demonstrates the unique remote food retail sector in Australia. Implications for public health: These data will allow for the more effective design of policies, strategies, and research together with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities to have meaningful impact on food security and health of remote residents.