POVERTY EQUALS PAIN: CHURCHES SAY NATIONAL STRATEGY NEEDED

Statement released 10 September 2003

The peak body representing most of Australia's Churches, the National Council of Churches in Australia (NCCA) today urged the Australian Government to demonstrate serious commitment in tackling the unacceptable level of poverty in Australia.

The NCCA is calling for a national strategy to eliminate poverty in Australia.

The President of the Council, the Revd Professor James Haire said, "Thirteen percent (2.4 million) of Australians have insufficient money to cover the basic costs of food, clothing and shelter.

"This is a tragic figure for our nation.

"We urge the government to take a leadership role by making the issue of poverty reduction a first order priority for the nation.

"It is time to take politics out of poverty, and bring all state and territory governments together in a partnership and produce a national strategy for poverty elimination in Australia.

"So the NCCA calls on the Australian government to exercise leadership in governing for the benefit of all Australians ensuring that individual, families and communities have access to the social opportunities and basic goods required to participate fully in every day life.

"We believe it is paramount that poverty indicators and targets to measure the effectiveness of strategies to improve the well being of the poorest groups be put in place. (See background notes below)

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NCCA Poverty Background Notes

WHAT IS POVERTY?

· Poverty is having insufficient resources to meet one's basic needs as well as having insufficient resources to participate in the community in which one lives.
· Poverty means not only having a low income, but also being unable to access or having limited access to essential services such as education, health and welfare, being unable to actively participate in decision-making affecting one's own life, and being marginalised out of mainstream society. The experience of exclusion, the sense of difference, and the loss of control and capacity to create one's future are some of the threads that link financial hardship and low material well-being to personal and social well-being.
· Poverty may be viewed as ‘capacity deprivation' (Amartya Sen) - a lack of freedom to develop to one's potential.

POVERTY AND FAITH

· The Church considers the world is a community in which all members are responsible for each other and the strongest have a special responsibility for the vulnerable. Christianity teaches that all humanity will be judged by its attitude to neighbours, visitors and strangers. This attitude should be marked by solidarity, compassion, generosity and love. Christians believe that Australians should show concern for the suffering because Christ first loved us (1 John 4:11).
· Christian beliefs share with the human rights tradition a concern for the well-being of all people and recognition of the dignity of the human person, and also the compassion and care required to seek the fulfilment of that well-being.
· The Australian churches believe that a society in which there are substantial inequalities is bad for all Australians. This belief arises from our Christian understanding that one person's pain or suffering diminishes us all.

WHAT IS POVERTY LIKE?

-To be poor is to be vulnerable - eg unexpected illness or expense can be disastrous.
· For people living in poverty, both access to education and educational outcomes are likely to be less favourable
· Groups particularly vulnerable to poverty include:
o Ageing
o Those living in rural and remote areas and other ‘disadvantaged' areas
o Long-term unemployed and underemployed
o Migrants and refugees
o Indigenous peoples
o People with long-term illness (including mental illness) or disability
o Sole parents
o People leaving prison
o Refugees and asylum seekers
o Working poor
o Homeless...

HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS

· Almost 90 000 low-income Australians are paying more than 50% of their income in rent (1) .
· Over 702 000 Australian households spend more than 30% of their income on housing (ie 10% of households)(2) .
· There has been a significant decline in real terms in Federal and State government's investment in public housing (3) .
· There is currently a national shortage of 150 000 units of affordable housing - contributing to the number of homeless Australians (4).
· According to the last census data published in 1999, there were approx. 105 300 people experiencing homelessness on census night - only 12% were using the service system that is dedicated to homelessness - that is SAAP (Supported Accommodation Assistance Program)(5) .

INEQUALITY

· There is a widening gap between rich and poor Australians. The wealthiest 10% of households hold 45% of the wealth whilst half of Australia's households own only 7% of the nation's wealth(6) ; the top 20% receive 50% of total income, whilst the bottom 20% earn 5% (7).
· There is a marked and growing divide between families that are ‘work rich', with two parents in paid employment, and those families which are ‘work poor', with no parent in paid employment or only having part-time employment.
· Not just income level but employment, workplace, housing, environment, transport, medical services and opportunities for children are all important to take into account when inequality is analysed(8) .
· Evidence shows that societies with a substantial social and economic distance between members exhibit lower overall levels of health and well-being than societies where these differences are less pronounced. These socio-economic differences show up particularly starkly in the health outcomes of poorer sections of populations. This so-called ‘gradient effect' applies not only to physical and mental health but also for a wide range of other developmental outcomes, including behavioural adjustment and literacy and numeracy levels(9).
· Inequality also undermines social cohesion.

CHILDREN

· The Smith Family estimates that 15% of Australian children - 750 000 - are living in poverty (10).
· More than this, 850 000 children are living in families where no adult has a paid job (11).
· Other estimates of child poverty include:
· 17.9% (12)
· The UNICEF Report on child poverty identified 17% of Australian children as living below the poverty line (this rate places Australia fifth highest among the 25 industrialised nations considered in the report)(13).
· Poverty exacts a heavy toll on children and families. We now know that early intervention reduces the negative impact of poverty on children's intellectual and emotional development over the whole of their life.
· The experience of poverty from an early age combined with low educational attainment and limited opportunity for social inclusion can also impair a person's ability to understand how systems work, influencing their capacity for decision making and sense of control over their own lives.
· Lack of education contributes to entrenchment of inequality across generations (14).
· Children are our country's greatest resource - we cannot afford to deny them the opportunity to develop to their full potential.

REGIONAL POVERTY

. Poverty is being increasingly concentrated in certain neighbourhoods(15).
· Location affects matters such as the availability of jobs, low-cost adequate housing, and access to public transport, hospitals, schools and childcare as well as support networks.
· Census data suggests that that those from low income neighbourhoods are increasingly experiencing unemployment (16).
· 6.7 million (27%) Australians live outside metropolitan areas(17); 33 out of 37 poorest electorates in Australia are in rural areas(18); 9 out of the ten regions with the highest unemployment in Australia are outside metropolitan areas (19) .

INDIGENOUS POVERTY

· The incidence of poverty is much higher amongst Indigenous Australians than the general population: estimates indicate that Indigenous Australians are likely to have less formal education and earn less than other Australians. They are more likely than non-Indigenous Australians to die earlier, to live in crowded conditions, to be unemployed, sick and imprisoned.
· For the 1998-2000 period, estimated life expectancy for Indigenous males was 21 years less than for all Australian males and 20 years less for Indigenous females than for all Australian females(20).
· Indigenous infant death rates were 3 times higher than for other Australian infants in 1998-2000 (21) .
· Long-term health problems are evident in one-third of Indigenous households in both low and high-income groups. Many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, especially those living in remote communities, do not have access to adequate housing, reliable supplies of water and electricity or adequate sewerage systems.
· Indigenous Australians are more likely than other Australians to be hospitalised for and to die from mental disorders such as depression, psychosis, self-harm and substance misuse.
· In 1996, the median income of Indigenous Australians was 65% of the median income of all Australians(22).
· There is a direct association between the removal of Aboriginal people from their natural families and the likelihood of criminalisation and ill-health.
· The over-representation of Indigenous people within the criminal justice system is recognised as the major contributing factor to continuing Indigenous deaths in custody.
· In 1994, one in five Indigenous people aged 13 and over reported having been arrested in the preceding five years. Nearly half (46%) of males aged 18-24 years have been arrested with 32% having been arrested more than once. Unemployment was the strongest predictor of arrest over the previous five years(23).
· While Indigenous men face unacceptably high rates of incarceration, the rate for Indigenous women is significantly higher and is rising at a faster rate. For the June 2002 quarter, Indigenous women were over-represented at 19.6 times the non-Indigenous rate compared with Indigenous men at 15.2 times. The imprisonment of Indigenous women exposes the children of the community to risk of neglect, abuse, hunger and homelessness. The rate of recidivism for Indigenous women is high (24).

EMPLOYMENT

· Labour market changes in Australia over the last decade have had a substantial social and economic impact. These changes include increasing casualisation, a move from full-time employment to part-time employment, a shift to a greater number of lower-paid jobs and significant unemployment despite improved economic performance.
· In February 2003, 614,400 Australians were officially unemployed (6.3%) - (all people working an hour or more a fortnight are officially classified as being employed).
· Unemployment produces erosion of self-esteem and confidence, atrophying of work skills, boredom, shame and stigma, increased stress, anxiety and depression, social isolation, family breakdown, deterioration of family health, loss of access to resources and personal supports, severe financial hardship and poverty, increased personal debt (25).
· 150 000 Australians (22.4% of those looking for work) are now considered to be long-term unemployed, having been unable to find work for more than a year (26).
· 380,000 Australians have been on unemployment benefits for more than 12 months (27).
· The continuing high number of long-term unemployed is particularly disturbing in light of research showing that 80% are likely to experience poverty compared with around 15% of short-term unemployed (28) .
· The poverty rate for jobless couples with no children is greater than 50%, but rises to more than 70% for those with children (29) .
· Unemployment is being increasingly concentrated in low-income households (30).
· The industries with the lowest wages: cafes, restaurants, cultural and recreation services are also amongst the industries with the highest growth in employment (31).
· The low level of security offered by casual employment increases the level of stress suffered by families and individuals
· In some areas of the labour force, such as the home-based textile, clothing and footwear industry, adequate pay and conditions are still not enforced.

INCOME SUPPORT

· The Church believes that a fair and equitable social security system will be founded on an understanding of the intrinsic value of all Australian citizens and the need for all to have an adequate, secure income. Social support services need to be underpinned by compassion and understanding and the welfare system must be appropriately resourced, in accordance with the human rights obligations of governments and nations.
· The Church is strongly concerned about the emphasis on compulsion, punitive measures and strenuous activity testing for those in situations of extreme financial hardship and stress.
· The Church is concerned that there are significant disincentives to returning to full-time low-paid low- and semi-skilled work.

HOW MANY PEOPLE ARE LIVING IN POVERTY?

· Although there is considerable debate about how poverty should be measured, a recent estimate puts 13% of Australians (1 in 8) living in income poverty (32).

WHAT CAN BE DONE?

· The churches call upon the Federal Government to exercise leadership in governing for the benefit of all Australians and building a just and compassionate society in which all Australians have access to the social opportunities and basic goods required to participate fully in everyday life.
· The churches believe that an overarching anti-poverty strategy should be adopted to address key themes and features of poverty in the Australian setting within specific areas - eg employment and income, housing and homelessness, health care, education, childcare and aged care, disability, Indigenous poverty, regional poverty, industrial relations.
· This strategy should include the development of agreed definitions, targets and indicators of poverty - setting the right parameters, standards, indicators and measurement structures in the Australian context requires ongoing engagement with all the relevant communities of interest. Targets adopted should address the most disadvantaged groups and take account of their experience of poverty.
· The development and implementation of a strategy will be best achieved with partnerships between all levels of government, local communities, business, the community and research sectors and by listening closely to the experiences of those living in poverty.
· Addressing the growing divide in Australia between the advantaged and disadvantaged requires sustained commitment that must begin now.

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(1) Housing Justice Roundtable (2002) Housing for all. Melbourne (Low income refers to the bottom 40% of income earners) quoted in Anglicare Victoria submission.
(2) Ibid.
(3) ACOSS (2002) Public and Community Housing: a rescue package needed. (figures from Dept. of Family and Community Services) quoted in Anglicare Victoria submission.
(4) Yates, J. and Wulff, M. (2000) "W(h)ither low cost private rental housing?" Urban Policy and Research, Vol. 18, No. 1, pp. 56-7 quoted in Brotherhood of St Laurence submission.
(5) Council to Homeless Persons (2001) Parity quoted in The Salvation Army - Australian Southern Territory submission.
(6) Kelly, S. (2001) "Trends in Wealth - New Estimates for the 1990s" 30th Annual Conference of Economists, University of WA, quoted in Anglicare Break the Cycle Campaign material.
(7) ACOSS (2000) Info 211 - available via www.acoss.org.au.
(8) Travers (2001) "Inequality and the future of our children" In Fincher, R. and Saunders, P. (eds) Creating Unequal Futures? Rethinking Poverty, Inequality and Disadvantage. Crows Nest: Allen & Unwin, pp 102-129 quoted in Jesuit Social Services submission.
(9) Simons, R. (2002) "Social Innovation for Social Inclusion", ACOSS Congress 2002, 28 Nov., Hobart.
(10) Harding, Lloyd and Greenwell (2001) "Financial Disadvantage in Australia 1990-2000" The Smith Family, Camperdown.
(11) McClelland, A. (2000) Our children - our future, child poverty in Australia, Brotherhood of St Laurence, Melbourne.
(12) Derived from ABS, Australian Social Trends 2002: Population; National Summaries and Family - National Summary Tables quoted in A Fair Society? Common Wealth for the Common Good: Ten Years On p18.
(13) Bradbury & Jantti (1999) Child Poverty Across Industialized Nations, Innocenti Occasional Papers, Economic and Social Policy Series No. 71, UNICEF International Child Development Centre, Florence, quoted in the Jesuit Social Services Centre submission.
(14) Vinson, T. (1999) "Unequal in Life. The distribution of social disadvantage in Victoria and New South Wales" Melbourne: The Ignatius Centre for Social Policy and Research. Jesuit Social Services quoted in Jesuit Social Services submission.
(15) Gregory, R.G. and Hunter, B. (1995) The Macro Economy and the Growth of Ghettos and Urban Poverty in Australia. In The Australian National University Centre for Economic Policy Research, Discussion Paper Series No. 235.
(16) Ibid.
(17) National Farmers' Federation website quoted in Anglicare Victoria submission.
(18) Alston, M. (2000) "Rural Poverty" Australian Social Work Vol. 53 No. 1. Position paper of the National Rural Health Alliance (2000) sourced from www.ruralhealth.org.au quoted in Anglicare Victoria submission.
(19) National Farmers' Federation news release 26/02/2003, sourced from www.nff.org.au quoted in Anglicare Victoria submission.
(20) ABS (2002) Australian Social Trends, p.86.
(21) Anglicare Break the Cycle campaign material.
(22) ABS, Year book Australia 1999: Population Special Article - Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australia: A Statistical profile from the 1996 Census.
(23) Mukherjee et al. (1998) Occasional paper ? and justice issues, Indigenous Australians (ABS, Canberra).
(24) Press Statement by Dr William Jonas, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Justice Commissioner - Social Justice Report 2002 and Native Title Report 2002.
(25) The Salvation Army - Australian Southern Territory submission.
(26) ABS (2003) Catalogue no 1301.0.
(27) www.acoss.org.au/media/2002/mr0218.htm
28) Ferguson, J. (2001) "Long-term unemployment and the employment services system: Value adding or a trade in damaged stock?" Economic and Labour Relations Review, Vol. 12 (supplement), pp.117-30 quoted in Brotherhood of St Laurence submission.
(29) Saunders, "The impact of unemployment on poverty, inequality and social exclusion" in Saunders and Taylor (2002) pp. 182-83 quoted in A Fair Society? Common Wealth for the Common Good: Ten Years On.
(30) Saunders in Saunders and Taylor (2002) p 179 quoted in A Fair Society? Common Wealth for the Common Good: Ten Years On p18.
(31) Eardley, Tony, "Working but Poor?, SPRC Paper 91.
(32) Harding, A., Lloyd, R. & Greenwell, H. (2001) "Financial Disadvantage in Australia 1990-2000", The Smith Family, Camperdown, NATSEM) - these researchers used a before-housing half average income poverty line with Henderson equivalence scale.

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