More than one in six children in Australia are still living in poverty, according to new data from the Australian Council of Social Service.
A report released on Sunday shows that 17.4 per cent – or 731,300 – children under the age of 15 in Australia were living below the poverty line while the proportion of children living in poverty climbed two percentage points between 2004 and 2014 (but was slightly down on the 2012 rate of 17.7 per cent).
Children in lone parent families are most likely to be living in poverty – 40.6 per cent, up from 36.8 per cent in 2012 – compared to 12.5 per cent of children from couple families.
Overall, the Poverty in Australia Report 2016 report found that 13.3 per cent of the Australian population was living below the poverty line – a figure which equates to almost three million people – with the majority of those people (59.7 per cent) living in rental housing and only 15.5 per cent of those living in poverty homeowners. The poverty line is defined as 50 per cent of the median income which equates to $426.30 a week for a single adult or $895.22 a week for a couple with two children
Meanwhile, as many as 63.2 per cent of unemployed people are living in poverty and while more than half of them rely on social security as their main form of income, 32 per cent have wages as their main source of income. While 36.1 per cent of people on social security payments were living below the poverty line, the figure climbs to 55 per cent of people on the Newstart allowance and 51.5 per cent of those on the Parenting Payment.
Dr Cassandra Goldie, ACOSS CEO, said the picture from the last decade was “one of persistent and entrenched poverty across the community with an increase in child poverty”. It is a national shame that after 25 years of economic growth, we have not done better at changing this trajectory and ensuring our most precious national resource, our children, are given the best possible start in life,” she said.
Dr Goldie described the report as a “further wake-up call to the government to address the inadequacy of the lowest income support payments and bolster support to low income families through the family payments system”. “It is also a reminder that housing remains the biggest cost of living issue for households and must be addressed as a policy priority.”
The report was produced by ACOSS in partnership with the Social Policy Research Centre at the University of NSW and the support of the Australian Communities Foundation (Social Justice Fund), St Vincent de Paul Society, Mission Australia, and the Salvation Army.
~ www.acoss.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2016/10/Poverty-in-Australia-2016.pdf
