More and more people are falling into poverty according to the latest Poverty in Australia report, released by the Australian Council of Social Services (ACOSS).
It found that, in 2022–23, more than one in seven people live below the poverty line — about 3.7 million people. That is up from one in eight over 2020–21. Shockingly, it said 757,000 children — one in six — live in poverty.
ACOSS found that the rising levels of poverty, between 2020–21 and 2022–23, was largely due to the COVID-19 income support being removed and the huge rise in rent prices.
Rents have risen dramatically since 2020; the median rent for a unit has gone from $372 to $566 in just five years — a 50% increase.
Rents for houses are even higher in major cities. A March report by Everybody’s Home found that “virtually no region of Australia is affordable for people on low and middle incomes”.
While paying more than 30% of income on rent is referred to as “rental stress”, the poorest 20% have been paying more than 50% of their income on rent since 2014–15, rising to 57% in 2022–23.
ACOSS used the relative poverty line, which refers to 50% of the median income, and in 2022–23 was about $584 a week for a single adult. It found that the average gap between the poverty line and incomes of people in poverty rose to a huge $390 a week.
The JobSeeker payment is set at just $396.80 a week for a single person and it is $187 below the poverty line. Families with two school age children, who receive Family Tax Benefits as well as JobSeeker, are even worse off — $299 below the poverty line.
Students on Youth Allowance who do not live with their parents, and are often therefore paying out on rent, bills and groceries, only receive $266.50 a week. That is $317.50 below the poverty line and $105.50 below the median rent of a unit.
Surviving on these meagre payments is an uphill battle. As artist, anti-poverty advocate and JobSeeker recipient Melissa Fisher told the ABC, “every day becomes a battle of whether you eat three times a day or if you see a doctor”.
Poverty compounds both physical and mental health issues, and makes finding additional employment more difficult. The band aid approach also costs the state more.
A report by the NSW Council of Social Service, released in November last year, found that child poverty costs the NSW government $60 billion a year. Child poverty has long-term impacts, including health issues and less access to education.
The federal government spends $4 billion a year maintaining the Job Service Provider system, which is designed to surveil and punish, welfare recipients who do not complete its arduous “mutual obligations”.
If these funds went instead to those living in poverty, through significant boosts to JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, Disability Support Pension and other payments, to lift them above the poverty line, there would be many flow-on beneficial effects.
Governments know this but decide against that path for ideological and material reasons. Bashing the poor and those without family assistance to get through tough times is fundamental to shoring up prejudices in a system that puts profits before people’s needs. It also helps lower, or keep a lid on, wage rises because people become desperate enough to take any pay.
Anti-poverty advocates say it would be cheaper to end poverty than it is to maintain it.
The Social Dividend, a report released by consulting firm Mandala Partners last year, found that for every $100 invested in addressing poverty there was a $24 “social return”, that included health benefits and child development.
There are also harder to quantify benefits that would flow from removing all the barriers poverty imposes; people would be able to develop as independent, creative and collaborative participants in society.
As well as ensuring welfare payments were adequate, investing in public housing would have a big impact on poverty. Investing in truly affordable homes and taking away developers’ tax incentives to profiteer on what should be a human right is another policy lever governments refuse to deploy.
But Anthony Albanese, who grew up in public housing, is not interested in doing those things. Instead, Labor is spending billions on developing the United States war alliance and subsidising fossil fuel conglomerates.
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