Advocates claim how Australia measures poverty worsens the problem

ABC NEWS (Australia)

Advocates say Australia is falling short when it comes to measuring poverty and it is leading to worse outcomes for families doing it tough. They're calling on the government to change the way it measures poverty to get help to where it's most needed.

Transcript

00:00Tamara knows the dread she feels as her supermarket trolley is tallied up.

00:08Sometimes I'm experiencing the embarrassment and the shame of having to remove items out of the trolley that I can no longer afford.

00:17The government estimates 14% of the population, roughly one in seven people, lives in poverty.

00:24The highest level since 2001.

00:27We still don't have an agreed measure of what poverty is.

00:31Some for instance include housing costs before they define the poverty line whereas others might deduct it.

00:39Advocates want what's called a multi-dimensional poverty index to track and then reduce the number of people living without.

00:47Poverty is about more than income.

00:49It's also about a lack of access or affordability to essential services like health, housing, education and employment.

00:57Canada and New Zealand adopted the measures in the past decade.

01:01And they've seen quite significant reductions in poverty since those official measures were introduced.

01:07In 2020 the coronavirus supplement doubled welfare payments and essentially ended poverty.

01:13A year later the Morrison government scrapped the supplement.

01:17The government's committee on economic inclusion wants to see payments to job seekers massively boosted.

01:23And new ways of accounting for poverty brought into law.

01:27With two daughters Tamara worries her situation will become theirs.

01:32Struggling with feeling like you've failed your children is gut-wrenching.

01:37Are there any differences?

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