Book contents
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- one Introduction and overview
- two Income poverty
- three Beyond low income: economic resources, financial hardship and poverty
- four Experiencing poverty: the voices of poverty and disadvantage
- five Identifying the essentials of life
- six Measuring deprivation
- seven A new poverty measure
- eight Defining social exclusion and the social inclusion agenda
- nine Identifying social exclusion
- ten Conclusions and implications
- References
- Index
two - Income poverty
Published online by Cambridge University Press: 01 September 2022
- Frontmatter
- Contents
- List of tables and figures
- Acknowledgments
- List of abbreviations
- one Introduction and overview
- two Income poverty
- three Beyond low income: economic resources, financial hardship and poverty
- four Experiencing poverty: the voices of poverty and disadvantage
- five Identifying the essentials of life
- six Measuring deprivation
- seven A new poverty measure
- eight Defining social exclusion and the social inclusion agenda
- nine Identifying social exclusion
- ten Conclusions and implications
- References
- Index
Summary
Introduction
Two of the principal aims of poverty research are to identify who is poor and to quantify the extent of poverty – in total and among specific groups. These tasks are important because they establish the scope of the problem, highlight where action is needed to address it and can be used to assess the impact of those actions. The estimates provide the basis for examining the association between poverty and such factors as age, family structure, labour force status, health or disability status, migrant status and location. These associations point to some of the causes of poverty, as well as some of its consequences, but these important topics require additional research.
A key component of any poverty study is a poverty line. This provides a benchmark that is used to identify who is poor according to whether income is below or above the line. Government concern about the accuracy and usefulness of poverty lines has not prevented community sector agencies from using them – and the poverty rates derived from them – to draw attention to the issue of poverty and pressure governments to do more about it. In 2007, for example, a consortium of community sector agencies released the report A fair go for all Australians: International comparisons 2007 that provided details of poverty in Australia and highlighted the failings of successive governments to address poverty effectively (ACOSS, 2007a).
In an update of those findings, it was noted that:
[T]he ideal of a fair society is not one that can be achieved through the existing policy settings. While 22 out of 30 OECD nations have implemented national social inclusion or poverty strategies to share the social and economic benefits of the nation, Australia has no coordinated response to disadvantage. Given the persistence of joblessness, poor health and other forms of disadvantage for some Australians, such a strategy is needed to bring people in from the margins of society and provide a tool to strengthen communities for the future. (ACOSS, 2007b, p 1)
One of Australia's oldest welfare agencies, the Brotherhood of St Laurence, was established during the Great Depression with the goal of ending social injustice by fighting for an Australia free of poverty.
- Type
- Chapter
- Information
- Down and OutPoverty and Exclusion in Australia, pp. 17 - 42Publisher: Bristol University PressPrint publication year: 2011