Research has found it may be cheaper to permanently end poverty than spend taxpayer funds dealing with its impacts. Economists looked at the impact of boosting welfare payments during the pandemic and found it created jobs boosted government coffers and has broader social benefits.
00:00Poverty is extremely difficult and expensive.
00:07Your life just is really, really hard and it's really, really constant.
00:12During the COVID pandemic, a coronavirus supplement doubled most welfare payments and substantially reduced poverty.
00:20We also know that people spent a lot of that increase in income, so it potentially stimulated the economy.
00:27With the extra income, Melissa Fisher ate more nutritious food, could afford medicines and attend a gym.
00:34When the supplement ended, her health fell apart and she ended up in hospital.
00:38A few years ago, I had actually been diagnosed with malnutrition and scurvy.
00:45With an estimated one in seven people living in poverty, the impact is borne by individuals, but the cost hits everyone.
00:53There's extensive research that shows that poverty is associated with poorer rates of health, lower rates of education, higher rates of crime.
01:02Hayley Winchcombe's research found every $100 invested in higher unemployment payments has delivered a $24 social return.
01:11That social return included physical and mental health benefits and positive impacts on childhood development.
01:18There were other efficiencies too, like reduced hospitalisations and medical costs, less interaction with police and the courts and lower lifetime use of the social security system.
01:30It's certainly costing Australians a lot to have this level of poverty in the country.
01:35The coronavirus supplement cost $20 billion for the year or so it existed.
01:40A recent report estimates child poverty cost the economy $60 billion a year, and that's just in New South Wales.
01:46Welfare payments have increased in recent years, not by nearly as much as advocates would like.
Be the first to comment