MORE than 2.5 million Australians are now living below the poverty line, according to a major new report by the Australian Council of Social Services.
The report, to be released today, will show that in the past two years, a quarter of a million more Australians have fallen into poverty, raising the national poverty rate to 13.9 per cent.
The situation is substantially worse among Australian children, with 17.7 per cent of kids across the country living below the OECD poverty line, and more than one in three children living in sole parent households are in poverty.
In Australia, the poverty line equates to living on less than $400 a week for a single adult or $841 for a couple with two children
Just under half of all recipients of the Disability Support Pension are also living in poverty, as are a quarter of the Australians receiving the carers payment and 15 per cent of those receiving the age pension.
Ms Goldie said the report shines a light on the “sheer inadequacy” of the welfare system.
She also said it emphasised the danger posed by the Abbott government’s first budget, which would reduce the indexation of pension payments to the Consumer Price Index only.
(from VP's article)
http://www.businessinsider.com.au/australian-wages-grew-by-2-3-over-the-past-year-2015-11
why are wages not growing as is the cost of everything else around us ( for those lucky enough to have a job)
employment is way too high, so many people are doing it tough atm, and the govt wants to cut welfare and pensions and perhaps increase GST- how is that going to help ?
