Guest The Pom Queen Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 MORE than 2.5 million Australians are now living below the poverty line, according to a major new report by the Australian Council of Social Services. The report, to be released today, will show that in the past two years, a quarter of a million more Australians have fallen into poverty, raising the national poverty rate to 13.9 per cent. The situation is substantially worse among Australian children, with 17.7 per cent of kids across the country living below the OECD poverty line, and more than one in three children living in sole parent households are in poverty. In Australia, the poverty line equates to living on less than $400 a week for a single adult or $841 for a couple with two children. ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie said the findings of the report are alarming and “highlight the need for a national plan to tackle the scourge of poverty”. “It is unacceptable that after 20 years of economic growth our wealthy nation is going backwards in the numbers of people falling into poverty,” Ms Goldie said. “These findings paint a disturbing picture that we as a community need to confront if we are to reverse the spreading disparity we are seeing on the ground in the daily lives of people across the country,” she said. Across the country, there are more people living in poverty in Tasmania than any other state, with the island state’s poverty rate toppling 15 per cent. This is followed by Queensland, where the poverty rate is 14.8 per cent, then New South Wales at 14.6 per cent, Victoria at 13.9 per cent, Western Australia at 12.4 per cent and South Australia, which has a poverty rate of just 11.7 per cent. Women are significantly more likely to be living below the poverty line than men, with 14.7 per cent of Australian women experiencing poverty, compared to 13 per cent of men. Welfare recipients are most at risk of living in poverty, with more than half of all Newstart recipients living below the poverty line. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tonyman Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 thats so right PQ , i know Westpac are at their limit for " financial hardships " claims ........... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 When I was single I'd only spend $400 a week. Not because I didn't have more, but because I was single and that's all I spent. I certainly didn't consider myself in poverty. I was in a three bed house on my own. I could have lived far cheaper if I wanted house mates. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidCellist Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Totally agree. In the Northern Territory it is very noticeable. There is too much poverty in Oz. This is made worse by these stupid films and ads which well Oz as a middle class paradise; implication being poor old England suffers with rubbish tucker and warm beer and too many chavs. WRONG! What injustice. Have you seen the Bon Beach Bogans running riot? Or the western suburbs of Melbourne? Desperate, mate. Best city on earth? Yes - the eastern half. Talk about a tale of two cities! Makes me wanna weep. This reality needs to be reported more. I am an Aussie by the way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Hear you cobber.Sadly inequality is growing. No excuse in a country as rich as Australia and just out of one of the biggest booms in its history. Present government will of course through its policies further the gap. Cry the Beloved Country may have been set in another land but hey what a title for what looks like being ahead. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DavidCellist Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Too true. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 So how come the shopping centre carparks are always overflowing? Along with all the fast crap - I mean food places! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Maybe all those people in the western suburbs should move over here. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Guest66881 Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 School holidays just finished here, everyday Joondalup was packed morning til night, same with Whitfords the city was packed the three times we went down into it, the zoo was so full wednesday we didn't get in and went elsewhere, so money is about because all of those places you need money. Cinemas was rammed again last week, even the chippy had a line outside it's doors and that chippy ain't cheap either. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scrutineer Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 In poverty relative to what? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 In poverty relative to what? Exactly. That's what I was getting at earlier. I could easily live happily on what apparently is considered poverty. And that's having a car to run too. I remember reading a study years ago which counted people as in poverty if they didn't have a tv or carpets. Lots of people choose not to have carpets! In my mind, you are poverty if you can't afford to feed yourself, clothe yourself or put a roof over your head. Take my partners daughter, she had a 16 year old bf. He was 'homeless' as he didn't want to live with family. He wanted a job to fall in his lap where he didn't have to do anything (which of course hasn't happened). But some how he still managed to afford cigarettes, weed, alcohol and many hair products. In my book if you can waste money on those things you have spare money. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 So how come the shopping centre carparks are always overflowing? Along with all the fast crap - I mean food places! Are they buying or hanging out? Maxed out credit cards perhaps? Remember something like half the population have little to no savings and live pretty much pay to pay. Folk still gotta eat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AJ Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Are they buying or hanging out? Maxed out credit cards perhaps? Remember something like half the population have little to no savings and live pretty much pay to pay. Folk still gotta eat. Thats not what I would call poverty! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cjscjs Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 When I was single I'd only spend $400 a week. Not because I didn't have more, but because I was single and that's all I spent. I certainly didn't consider myself in poverty. I was in a three bed house on my own. I could have lived far cheaper if I wanted house mates. How long ago was it when you were single? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 School holidays just finished here, everyday Joondalup was packed morning til night, same with Whitfords the city was packed the three times we went down into it, the zoo was so full wednesday we didn't get in and went elsewhere, so money is about because all of those places you need money.Cinemas was rammed again last week, even the chippy had a line outside it's doors and that chippy ain't cheap either. Folk unlikely to stop going out due to a percentage experiencing hard times. Many still feel rich owing to house inflation but may still live pay to pay. We are not talking absolute poverty. Even in such societies in developing world countries shopping centres are full with middle class shoppers. Absolute numbers of impoverished are hardly going to impact on daily events at the moment. There has been reining in of spending though. Just how is small business fearing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 (edited) How long ago was it when you were single? Moved in with my partner a year ago. Edited October 12, 2014 by blossom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Thats not what I would call poverty! It may not be what you'd call poverty. Regardless increasing numbers of Folk are finding life increasingly challenging. The divide is ever increasing between have and have nots a situation totally un necessary in a country with Australia's wealth. Still relative and of concern even if not complete abject poverty. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Parley Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Whatever happened to.. "By 1990, No Australian Child will be living in poverty.." Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
flag of convenience Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Indeed. Hawke shouting his mouth off. Sadly we've become more dog eat dog society than ever could have been imagined in the eighties. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wellers and Whitehead Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Not sure what full car parks/shops had to do with child poverty? As we know lots of people are not in poverty. . Hence maybe them filing shopping centres. .I'm presume 400$ to cover rent/bills/food. . That's poverty.. Where can u live with a child/ren for 200$ a week? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Not sure what full car parks/shops had to do with child poverty? As we know lots of people are not in poverty. . Hence maybe them filing shopping centres. .I'm presume 400$ to cover rent/bills/food. . That's poverty.. Where can u live with a child/ren for 200$ a week? $841 for parents and two children. Depending on the child's ages, I don't think that is too bad. Pretty soon we are going to be on about that for three of us, and I have no worries about being able to do it. Once they get older it would be much harder I'm sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lambethlad Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Poverty will only get worse. The outlook is really grim. Manufacturing jobs are disappearing at an alarming rate. In three years time there will be no Australian auto industry and all the local suppliers will close down. Soon everything will be produced in Asia. I lost my job at a Melbourne suburban newspaper group where I had worked for over ten years. Everyone was made redundant and the work is now being done in Manila. The advertising and pages are created there and with a click of the mouse they end up on a printing machine in Melbourne. Not many people would realise that the local newspaper they are reading is now produced in the Phillipines at the cost of hundreds of Australian jobs. That was 3 years ago - no one wants my skills - I'm still unemployed and now I'm technically living in poverty. **** happens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blossom Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 $841 for parents and two children. Depending on the child's ages, I don't think that is too bad. Pretty soon we are going to be on about that for three of us, and I have no worries about being able to do it. Once they get older it would be much harder I'm sure. I forgot to say. It will not only be us and our new baby on that per week, but we pay child maintenance for my partners 14 year old daughter and have her every other weekend, so can probably count that as a family of four on that wage. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reena1991 Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 $841 for parents and two children. Depending on the child's ages, I don't think that is too bad. Pretty soon we are going to be on about that for three of us, and I have no worries about being able to do it. Will you be needing to pay rent/mortgage as well while being on that amount? Just being a bit nosey as we will be on a similar wage + about $550 per fortnight for child and rent assistance ,when we come over if I don't go to work (2 young children would make it pointless childcare cost wise unless I found an evening job). :smile: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Petals Posted October 12, 2014 Share Posted October 12, 2014 Not at all surprised, blinkers are bought regularly by pollies who think people can live on the smell of an oily rag Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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