
Issue No 91		06 April 2001

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Economics

Stopping the Rot

By Mark Zirnsak - Social Justice Development Officer, Synod of Victoria, Uniting Church in Australia

A national campaign is underway to persuade politicians from both the major parties that they need to be addressing the issue of poverty within Australia.

"The kids can eat a lot of food and sometimes we are short of it. Occasionally we have what we call a 'pretend chicken dinner'. We'll have baked potatoes, cauliflower, carrots and gravy, but no chicken. Life like this has its bonuses though. Like if we're really poor the night before pay night and we only have bread or something, the food the next day tastes really lovely." A mother describing her experience of poverty in Australia (Burnside, "Images of Children. Background Paper", September 1999)

A national campaign is underway to persuade politicians from both the major parties that they need to be addressing the issue of poverty within Australia. The National Coalition Against Poverty (NCAP) is a coalition of community service organisations, religious organisations, unions and local government joined together to work for the eradication of poverty in Australia. The campaign is stressing that the right to 'an adequate standard of living' is a basic human right of all people that Governments have a duty to promote, protect, respect and fulfil and not remove this right from anyone as a punitive measure. This is an internationally recognised human right, enshrined in a number of human rights treaties and conventions that Australia has pledged to uphold. The right to an adequate standard of living includes food, clothing, housing, healthcare and education.

It needs to be recognised that there is a significant movement by some sections of the Australian society to resist any increase in social security payments so as to enable reductions or stagnation in minimum wages. To assert the right to an adequate standard of living is to oppose this pressure to undermine minimum wage rates.

Poverty in Australia

The community is aware of poverty as a major issue. A recent Brotherhood of St Laurence survey found that nearly 60% of Australians think poverty is a major problem in Australia and 80% think its everyone's problem - not just the poor. They also found that our community is concerned about the widening gap between rich and poor and its contribution to poverty in Australia

An estimated two million Australians (11%), live in a household in poverty. In its most recent report on child poverty in industrialised countries, UNICEF reported that 12.6% of children (or one in eight) in Australia live in poverty. Of 20 industrialised countries, UNICEF found Australia ranked 6th in terms of national income per person, but 12th in terms of the level of child poverty. In other words, Australian Governments are not doing enough to address poverty for the size of Australia's wealth.

UNICEF found a strong correlation between the child poverty rate and the percentage of full-time workers in low-paid jobs (Figure 1). The organisation concluded that an increase in employment opportunities was unlikely to make significant inroads into the problem of child poverty if wages at the bottom of the income scale are too low.

NCAP aims to put poverty back on the political agenda for both of the major parties. NCAP will undertake a range of activities to advocate for the elimination of poverty that will involve the community.

The first major initiative of the campaign has been to promote a national petition asserting the right to an adequate standard of living in Australia. The petition calls on the House of Parliament to:

10 As an immediate step all pensions and benefits be brought up to at least 25% of male total average weekly earnings as is the case for the single pension.

20 Establish a Royal Commission into poverty in Australia with the aim of developing measures to determine an adequate standard of living for all people and to make recommendations as to how poverty in Australia can be eradicated.

The Australian Council of Social Services believes that increasing pensions and benefits paid by Government to just one quarter of the male total average weekly earnings will address the most immediate needs of those living in poverty in Australia.

The petition also highlights the need for an official measurement of poverty. Measuring poverty is a necessary first step to eliminating it. In September 2000, the UN Committee on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights requested that the Australian Government "establish an officially set poverty line, so that credible assessment can be made of the extent of poverty in Australia." The Australian Government has so far refused the request.

By the end of February 2001 a total of 46 organisations from across Australia had endorsed the petition and agreed to circulate it as widely as possible. Endorsements included the ACTU and the Australian Education Union.

Unions interested in endorsing the petition or anyone interested in learning more about NCAP should contact Mark Zirnsak on (03) 9251 5265 or mailto:[email protected].

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  Issue 91 contents

Interview: Costa on Compo
Labor Council�s secretary gives his take on the Big Stink over Della�s workers compensation package.

Politics: Della's List
All Labor members of Parliament were this week asked to indicate whether they would support injured workers. More than half said 'yes'. Here they are.

Unions: Picketing Joy
Rowan Cahill chronicled the definitive dispute of 2000 for Workers Online. He looks back on the battle and the lessons to be drawn from the workers at Joy.

History: Vale Tony Mulvihill
The environment, migrant workers and the hairy nosed wombat have reason to be thankful for the active citizenship of Tony Mulvihill.

Economics: Stopping the Rot
A national campaign is underway to persuade politicians from both the major parties that they need to be addressing the issue of poverty within Australia.

International: East Timor � Beyond the Headlines
It�s now more than 18 months since the violence and bloodshed following the popular consultation on the future of East Timor was front page news in Australia.

Technology: Online Breathing Space
The global collapse of faith in new technology has given journalists a chance to prepare themselves for the real revolution, writes David Higgins

Satire: Howard Cuts Beer Price to Get Voters Drunk
Prime Minister John Howard has agreed to cut the excise on beer, in the hope cheaper drinks will help get the country drunk enough to vote for him.

Review: The Battle for 96.9Fm is Over
What would you get if you crossed 2DAY FM, 2MMM, JJJ and MIX 106.5 FM? A fairly commercial radio station that wouldn�t know the difference between throwing up, stuffing up, growing up or breaking up.

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» Activist Notebook