Down and Out in Australia is Becoming the New Normal, By James Reed
It is a shocking state of affairs and certainly shows how dated the book, The Lucky Country (1964) by Leftist Donald Horne actually is now. The articles below show just how hard it is for people to get by now as the cost-of-living crisis grinds them down. One in five Australians who pay rent are living below the poverty line which is for a single person $ 426.30 per week, and two adults and two children, $ 1,121.91 per week. In either case people are having to go without essential items, including school lunches, and even breakfast for children. Food bank and many schools are now supplying breakfasts and lunches for children. Chief executive of ACOSS (Australian Council of Social Services) Cassandra Goldie has said about the ACOSS report on the plight of the poor in Australia: ""This report paints a very grim picture in terms of deprivation for large numbers of people on low incomes across the country," Dr Goldie said.
"What this report shines a light on is that people are going without the basic essentials of life.
"Things like food, housing, medical attention when you need it, being able to get your teeth fixed.
"We're [also] very worried about the rates of evictions all over the country with rents going up, people in the private rental market, if you're on JobSeeker, there is literally nowhere that's affordable for you to live."
That is why homelessness, and people living rough on the streets has hit a record high in Australia, with 1 in 200 people now homeless and rising. But that depends on whether tent cities, a product of mass immigration displacement of locals, counts.
"One in five Australian private renters are living without two or more essential items, according to a new joint study released by peak body the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS), and the University of New South Wales.
The study also found that of those Australians renting 22 per cent are living below the poverty line, as the nation's dual housing affordability and cost of living crises continues.
For those Australians who are renting social housing, that number is more than 50 per cent, the study released exclusively to 7.30 found.
The report showed that a number of renters are at risk of material deprivation, along with several Australian groups on welfare payments, including JobSeeker, Youth Allowance, the parenting payment, and the disability support pension.
The group also includes sole parent families and First Nations people as struggling significantly with multiple material deprivation.
Chief executive of ACOSS Cassandra Goldie told 7.30 the report painted a concerning picture.
"This report paints a very grim picture in terms of deprivation for large numbers of people on low incomes across the country," Dr Goldie said.
"What this report shines a light on is that people are going without the basic essentials of life.
"Things like food, housing, medical attention when you need it, being able to get your teeth fixed.
"We're [also] very worried about the rates of evictions all over the country with rents going up, people in the private rental market, if you're on JobSeeker, there is literally nowhere that's affordable for you to live."
These kinds of really basic community standards about what you would consider to be essential to live with basic dignity and be able to be out in the community in a way with some level of respect.
One in five Australians who rent are living below the poverty line after they pay rent, the study found.
Material deprivation exists when people do not have and cannot afford items or activities widely regarded as essential for participating fully in a society.
Examples include when people cannot afford a secure home, warm clothes and bedding, medical and dental treatment, medicines, a roof and gutters that don't leak, children being able to go on school excursions, hobbies, a washing machine, separate bed for each child in a family, internet access, insurance and at least $500 in emergency savings.
In households of working age not in the labour force and households renting privately, at least 20 per cent are deprived of two or more items, the study found.
Those renting social housing are at least five times more likely than the general population to lack one or more of half of all the essential items.
Calls for welfare payments to be increased
The Australian Council of Social Service wants the Albanese government to increase welfare payments like JobSeeker. (ABC News: Luke Stephenson)
A report published last week showed that renters in Sydney and Perth were on average spending more than 30 per cent of their income towards rent.
Dr Goldie told 7.30 that Australians on welfare were among the most at risk.
"People receiving income support are experiencing multiple material deprivation at rates that far exceed the general population," Dr Goldie said.
"This tells us that JobSeeker, Youth Allowance and related payments are so woefully low that people can't afford the basic essentials of life.
"People on JobSeeker, they're 14 times more likely to be going regularly without a substantial meal a day.
"Food has become a discretionary item.
"Our colleagues at Foodbank released their hunger report a couple of weeks ago, and with were so alarmed to see the increase in the rates, three million people, experiencing food insecurity in, let's be clear, one of the wealthiest countries in the world."
Dr Goldie called on the government to do more to fix issues related to wealth inequality.
"The extremely high rate of people with low wealth (81 per cent) among people with incomes below the poverty line who are experiencing multiple deprivation shows the important role that wealth plays as a protection against poverty," she said in a statement.
"The federal government must raise income support payments to liveable levels, fix employment services, boost social housing and enact a jobs, services and training plan to reduce long-term unemployment. These policies will go a long way to reducing poverty and material deprivation across Australia."
Dr Goldie also called for the rate of JobSeeker, currently at $56 per day, to be brought in line with that of the pension at $82 per day.
That was echoed by Mission Australia chief executive Sharon Callister.
"Without urgent action, more people across Australia will be left behind and at risk of homelessness." Ms Callister said.
"Mission Australia calls for an increase in JobSeeker and other income support to $82 a day and a 60 per cent boost to the maximum threshold of Commonwealth Rent Assistance."
"Gwen Rumbel grew up in a world in which brand-named groceries were an unobtainable luxury. She never got to choose her clothes because they were always second-hand, her school excursions required weeks of saving and money was a constant stress.
When the 18-year-old was awarded a scholarship to the University of Sydney, she met people whose childhoods had been steeped in luxury and largesse. They could spend without thinking; she worries about every dollar. "It's a real culture shock," she said.
Her new friends come from suburbs where one in 20 children grew up in poverty. In the region surrounding Rumbel's home town of Dungog, it's more like one in five.
In 1987, then-prime minister Bob Hawke told Labor's election launch that "by 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty". Its sheer ambition made the line one of Hawke's most famous. It was actually a mistake; the script said "no child needs to live in poverty".
Hawke's reforms – a child support agency, a family assistance payment, rent assistance – improved the lives of poor families and cut the number of impoverished children. But in NSW, those gains have been eroded, a new NSW Council of Social Service report has found.
In areas such as south-west Sydney, child poverty is twice as prevalent as it was when Hawke made those comments more than 35 years ago.
Now, more than 15.5 per cent of children in NSW are growing up in homes where families struggle to pay rent or afford basic health care, where light and heating are sometimes cut because of unpaid bills, where meals are missed and parents rely on payday loans.
The impact of financial stress in childhood can lead to health and employment struggles in later life.
The NCOSS report says poverty costs the state $60 billion a year, including the cost of diminished health and life expectancy. That's more than the construction, manufacturing and mining industries make in a year, the report says.
In the south-west, inner south-west and Parramatta, poverty affects more than 20 per cent of children. The rate is far lower in the north, east and inner west of the city. On the northern beaches, it's less than 5 per cent.
NCOSS chief executive Cara Varian said Hawke's pledge was not as ambitious as it sounded to many. "In a country like Australia, where we have incredible wealth and great infrastructure, child poverty is preventable," she said.
"That means kids having food, making sure they have a stable, safe place to live, and making sure they have access to health and wellbeing services."
Rumbel's scholarship is already having flow-on effects on other members of her family. She is studying law and psychology at the University of Sydney, and her experience has prompted her brother to broaden his horizons, too.
"He was thinking of doing a trade, and now he's thinking about bigger things," she says. Rumbel's mother has begun studying social work. "Doing something like this is really helping the people close to me," she said.
"Of course, money is a limitation, but there are ways to get around it.""
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