This week, the Brotherhood of St. Laurence (BSL) will host international poverty measurement expert Professor Sabina Alkire to gain a clearer insight into how Australia can better measure and track poverty rates.
In 1975 a landmark Commission on poverty in Australia called for the establishment of a national poverty measure. Now, nearly 50 years later, we still don’t have a nationally agreed definition or measures of poverty, agreed objectives to reduce it or indicators to track progress.
Australia falls well behind countries like Canada and New Zealand in setting clear, unified goals for poverty reduction. How can we effectively work to eradicate poverty without a comprehensive understanding of the issue? Without a nationally agreed benchmark for poverty reduction, it is impossible for governments to measure success in preventing and alleviating poverty.
The Federal Government’s own Productivity Commission recently estimated that one in seven Australians, or over 3.5 million people, are living in poverty – the highest recorded level since 2001. One in ten Australians are in persistent poverty.
BSL has long called for Australia to adopt a more comprehensive approach to measuring poverty that integrates two critical components.
First, we need nationally agreed income-based measures that clearly identify the number of people living in poverty, including regional disparities.
Second, and crucially, these income measures must be paired with a broader poverty index that reveals the causes of poverty and highlights actionable solutions. This approach considers access to essential services like health, education, housing and transport – key factors that directly affect quality of life.
Professor Alkire’s data driven method for measuring and working to decrease poverty rates ensures that people and institutions are deeply involved at a local level when deciding what needs to be measured to determine who is ‘poor’ and most importantly, how we can track improvement against key indicators.
Her work with Professor James Foster resulted in the Alkire-Foster (AF) method for measuring multidimensional poverty. This flexible technique allows for the creation of poverty measures that are relevant in the local context by incorporating various dimensions and has been successfully implemented in over 100 countries to help lift millions of people out of poverty.
During her visit to Australia, Professor Alkire will share insights into how her work can be applied in an Australian setting – specifically through informing policy design and budget decisions – to give us a clearer picture on how we can accurately measure poverty and work to eradicate it.
Her advice will also inform an ongoing joint initiative between BSL and the University of Melbourne, ‘Defining and Measuring Poverty’, which draws together experts and partners from economics, social policy, public health, education, gender, disability, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs to assess current poverty frameworks and measures and identify a way forward for Australia. This builds on considerable work on poverty measurement from partners across the sector.
BSL will continue to advocate for a national definition and official measures of poverty. Establishing these benchmarks is an essential step in breaking the cycle of persistent poverty that Australia has been stuck in for decades.
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1,Vote for a government that cares
2.Raise the unemployment payment
3.Put in the”too hard” basket
4.As you were.
The immediate reversal of Australia’s economic plight is… to withdraw from any further USA influence, in other words, to end all military sales or weapons of war and whatever applicable bullied agreements extant.
This can be achieved by creating the effective Federal legislated laws enshrining the payment of $1 hundred million dollars in Gold, payable to Australia’s treasury to obtain a relevant license before they begin their business operations.
Any failure to uphold the applicable regulations accompanying the applicable license, will initiate the immediate order to wind up of that business operation within 5 days. Importantly, accompanying the purchased license, there must be a signed agreement to pay the income taxes due on ALL of their annual Australian generated earnings.
Any failures thereto, the respective license and its costs will be absolved, then a Federal warrant to be delivered by a contingent of Australia’s Federal police law enforcement officers, to either expel the whatever-named business entity.
Alternatively, simply arrest and convey the owners and or be it a board of directors, to one of our State prisons.
Any owned assets to be confiscated, then those assets set up for public auction.
If any resistance to the newly appropriate legislated new laws, they will attract a letter of forfeiture, if not responded to : or adopted… Get you and your outfit’s potentials, or proposed purposes, out of the Australian people’s nation.
Perhaps even the deportation of the ownership of, or, the principal board directors, litigation proceedings will be initiated.
An essential new approach will be “to divorce all new and current owned overseas owned mineral resource operations” then to begin the creation of an Australian mining license. Applicable to all overseas-owned, mineral resource miners, then all other overseas owned trading entities, must purchase a trading in Australia trading license. The cost of either type of license no less than $100 million dollars in Gold.
Pay up or get thee from our midst and from any and all mining and including all commerce and trading ventures by non-license holders.
No more subjugation to the yet to be announced bankrupt USA. Australia as a sovereign nation is possessed of the freedom to implement each of the above.
Poverty is relative.
When compared to the 11 or so billionaires in Australia, I am most definitely poor, living in abject poverty, but wait on, I have a roof over my head and am not hungry, in fact enjoyed a cup of coffee with a friend this morning and even managed to nibble on a sweet meat.
Compared to the person who was sleeping rough and skip jumping I am relatively rich.
Compared to the young couple saving to buy a house on about $70,000 a year income, or a combined income of around $120,000 I am well off. In the not too distant past buying a house was about 2 to 3 times annual income, but now it is closer to 10 times.
Talking with a neighbour yesterday, he agreed that the value of his home now, compared to when he purchased it 10 years ago would make it unaffordable for him today.
So those looking for a start in life, but not able to count on the bank of mum and dad are finding life pretty bloody hard. Those without a job are finding life to be hopeless.
So, Harry, while I agree with suggestions 1 and 2, it seems we are living with 3 and 4 unfortunately.
22 Years ago, The Senate , Both sides of Government and independents , Launched an inquiry in to Poverty , The Purpose was to venture Australia Wide and see first Hand and Attend Community forums listerning to All catergories of people afftected by Poverty , Primarly , those on welfare , Youth unemployed , LOng term unemployed , Mature aged Un emploted ,,Migrants ,First Nations people , Penioners ,,Disability Pensioners and Home less ,,,etc ,,IN every state in this country People gave their Hardship stories to all the Senators from all the classifications of welfare , ……….
All of these testomonies and stories were listened to and recorded for data collection and referal commitee to Be reviewed and then transcribed and translated in to One big thick Book – Entitled – THe SENATE ENQUIRY INTO POVERTY ( 2002 – 2003 )
THis book came out 6 months after the Intial enquiry ,There were over 70 Recommendations across the Board on alll classifications of welfare , ( But sadly , It all fell on Dear Ears ,,THis book went gavering Cob webs in the Parliment LIbrary and no Government since has bothered to REview the Books Comprhensive findings ,
So ,,The whole Of parliment has these findings and they refuse to implement the measures and the reccomendations ,,THis is ignorance on steroids and turning a blind Eye to this UNNiVERSAL Problem ,, THe Spot LIght shined by St Laurence on POVERTY ought to be commended and is a timely Reminder to our Politicians get off your HIIGH HORSES and GO educate your self with what POverty is all about in the Australian Context , A Good Place to Start is GO to the Parlimentry LIBrary and pick up a Copy of THE SENATE ENQUIRY INTO POVERTY 2002 – 2003 ) And FRigging follow up on the all recommendations and do your frigging Job !!!!!!!! ,,,, FAIR GO FOR ALL – Not just Some !!!! ……. END- Work for the Mole , Dole !!!!………
The number of State or Federal government ministers who would look to introduce this important topic into Parliament could be counted on one hand. Because poverty in our nation does not have any relevance to the upper classes unless a minister is cornered by a man with a gun, that frightened minister will promise his/her intervention, say, by introducing this troubling issue by bringing this poverty topic into the business of the day, but as quick as a wink that minister will disappear somewhere indoors at rocket speed, maybe even call the police. After all, what is the purpose of introducing this reality to all ministers present in parliament’s sitting on any particular day, it does not affect anybody present in the house, hence, no one has any interest concerning the men and women have fallen on hard times.’ Stiff Schitt’ for those people getting around looking like scarecrows. I feel sure that many people in Australia will have seen the situation in the State’s cities over in the US of A.
Fact is that a huge amount of the US GDP goes to the arms and weapons manufacturing corporations. Poverty-stricken Americans are ignored or are arrested for trespass. No money being available to fight poverty, only money is to pay for fighting our wars or somebody else’s wars, how about we are fighting for democracy.
Poverty-stricken people would be viewed as criminals of some kind, or people not paying their rent. Perhaps will likely be seen as those persons will have somehow shot themselves in the foot. I don’t believe the US government cares a hoot about the hordes of scruffy looking people camping on their city pavements. I note that the US has a rising national debt problem, the only way the US can pay the interest on their $35 Trillion dollar national debt, is to borrow even more money to keep up their debt interest payments. The same could be said about Australia’s half a Trillion dollar debt accrued during the 9-years of the Lib/Nat party leadership of our nation.
My prior comment above might be seen as an exaggerated rant, yet the greater amount of overseas-owned major corporations are simply lying to our tax authorities and are not pursued any further. Independent journalist, Michael West (of MichaelWestBiz fame) has a feature that names the shonky overseas corporations, EG Chevron, Exxon, how about the US subsidiary arms and weapons corporations, (no, we pay no tax) he publishes a long list featuring the huge number of corporate malefactors who refuse to pay income tax on their revenues generated in Australia.
The current and past action by our Federal government to have these mining gorgons pay their obliged income tax, is to send a nice letter asking the likes of Chevron… Er um,’ could you please pay your obliged income tax? Weak lot of ministerial bastards, so a lowly paid “Skeeter” would be tasked to respond, no, the board objects to Australia imposing their income taxes. Note the multiple billions of dollars annual income they generate, see below link. https://www.chevron.com/-/media/chevron/annual-report/2023/documents/2023-Annual-Report.pdf Then Australia is hosting Glencore, a major international resource plundering entity, being keenly involved in utilizing slave labour, as well as child labour, to toil away for next to nothing each day to operate their cobalt mining operation in the Congo. The corporate business model is destroying the lives of many millions of people around our world. the only item on their agenda, generate higher profits than we achieved last year.
HA ,HA ,HA, ,,We can focus on whos paying taxes and whos not ,, But what about , The Haves and and the Have Nots ? ,,you can point out whos rich ,,whos evading taxes or other systems of Government ,, THe focus here is ,,What is Australias position ON poverty ????? ..Not some other country Or a Beat around the bush on some other Tax arrangements or excuses for other countries ,,,?????
The fact remains ,,,IN Australia ..POVERTY has not been bravely addressed or attempted – ..oh ..the rich, dont want .to ,,you scream ,,its always been that way ,,If aint broke dont fix it ,,so to speak !!! ,,But it is broke , and it needs to be fixed ,,And real people are suffering in tangible ways ,,,we dont need to hear technical bullshit on how they are evading taxes , The rich people ..we need solutions ,,what are solutions for poverty? ??? ,,we dont want excuses and rants for poverty ,,,we want solutions ! ,,, what solutions in a collaborative fashion can really make a difference ? ……read the book ,,
GUess what ,,,IN the book ,,THe senate enquiry into Povery 2002-2003 ) Has already atempted these questions ,from so many people who are in poverty situations ,,, (, If Empathy is not your strong Suit – ..GO back in the hole you crawled from !!! – IT wont be solved by critical and judgemental people ..But those , who have care and empathy ..The rest – Are just in their comfort zone and couldnt give a damn less !!!……WAR ON POVERTY – ,Lest your comfort zone and selfish ways couldnt care Less !!! ….I salute , saint lawrence ,,,,Amen ,,, Fark, work for the Mole Dole ..!!! ……
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, senator Katy Gallagher and CEO of ACOSS Cassandra Goldie,
I reported 2 illegal debt schemes to each and all of you. Services Australia forced me into massive debts without any legal document allowing them to do so. They never conducted a formal review I applied for 2 years ago. They replaced it with an objection letter which is a void decision.
Welfare recipients are people too. You have to take action to stop the abuse and explain your inaction.