One in seven Australians on poverty line: report

[webfact]

One in seven Australians on poverty line: report
English.news.cn

SYDNEY, Oct. 13 (Xinhua) -- More than 2.5 million Australians, or one in seven (13.9 percent), are living below the internationally accepted poverty line, a report released on Monday revealed.

The Australian Council of Social Service report draws on new data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics Income and Expenditure surveys for 2011-12 and previous years. It found that that 603,000, or 17.7 percent of all children were living in poverty in Australia.

The poverty line is defined as 50 percent of median disposable income, which was 400 Australian dollars (346 U.S. dollars) a week in Australia.

"This is deeply disturbing and highlights the need for a national plan to tackle the scourge of poverty which diminishes us all in one of the wealthiest countries in the world," said CEO Cassandra Goldie of the council in a statement.

"In particular, the child poverty rate should be of deep concern to us all, with over a third (36.8 percent) of children in sole parent families living in poverty. This is due to the lower levels of employment among sole parent households, especially those with very young children, and the low level of social security payments for these families."

The report found that poverty is concentrated among the groups of people facing the most disadvantage and barriers to fully participating in the community, including the unemployed (61.2 percent) and those in a household that relies on social security as its main source of income (40.1 percent).

"This finding brings into focus the sheer inadequacy of these allowance payments which fall well below the poverty line," Goldie said.

The report also found higher levels of poverty among people born in countries where the main language is not English (18.8 percent), which is much higher than those born overseas in an English speaking country (11.4 percent), or in Australia (11.6 percent).

Full story: http://news.xinhuanet.com/english/world/2014-10/13/c_133711235.htm

-- Xinhua 2014-10-13

[ozsamurai]

ACOSS has a 20 person volunteer Board of Governors.

[NeverSure]

Shame on Australia. They should raise everyone's taxes and pay the poor so that everyone would be equal equally poor.

[daveAustin]

Stop poverty, abolish the monetary system and educate everyone.

[neverdie]

I honestly wonder how anybody could possibly survive on $400AUD per week. The joint is horrendously expensive. I've lived & travelled to various parts of the world, so I'm hardly neive, but I can now see first hand how expensive the place has become.

The price of food in the supermarket amazes me.

I can see the locally made cars are cheap (prices haven't changed much) but it's easy to see the cars are being built to a price point and quality is poor. Soon that option will be completely gone as all vehicle manufacturers are winding up business there.

The price of imports is going to rise soon, as the dollar drops.

The price if internet is a complete joke, I laughed at how expensive it was, thought they were joking.....and the good money doesn't mean speed, the internet speeds are low. Outside the cities he phone signal constantly drops and the local country roads are pathetic.

The lucky country it once was, not anymore. Fat cats like Clive (all 3 tonnes of him) & other jokers keep getting richer and pay minimal taxes while the working class are taxed to within an inch of their lives.

Then Rees the millions of welfare bludgers, that line the streets, stinking the place up and moaning about how they got locked up for this and that and so forth......these must be some if the dead heads on $400 per week. The reality is, they also get cheap housing, free health care, bus rides, this and that, what a joke, there's no shortage of them crime ing the place up and stealing from the working class while they are out trying to earn enough money to pay their ever expanding tax bills.

Income tax,

GST

Capital gains tax,

Medicare levy

Medicare levy surcharge

Fire levy

Local council rates

Departure taxes

Excise taxes

fringe benefits tax

inheritance tax

superannuation tax

fuel levy (3x3) (3x3 was suppose to be 3 cents for 3 years and was brought in some 25-30 years ago.

Carbon tax (no defunct) & soon to be replaced.

Payroll taxes

disability levies

The real victims are the working class, the ones that earn between 50k and 150k, there the ones that earn reasonable money and probably end up with less than$400 after all the <deleted> taxes are paid.

Australia is a joke, corrupt pollies and fat cats..... nothing changes, just the names of the taxes. What a shitehole.

[cloudhopper]

Shame on Australia. They should raise everyone's taxes and pay the poor so that everyone would be equal equally poor.

This number compares to the US Census Bureau poverty rates of 16% overall and 20% for children in the US.

[khwaibah]

"One in seven Australians on poverty line: report"

If only 1 out of 7 is ON the poverty line the it looks as if then other 6 are below it.

Edited October 13, 2014 by khwaibah

[Jdiddy]

Having lived in 4 countries including Australia, it is an over regulated, over taxed nanny police state but it does have nice beaches and ability to earn good money without an education

[TheCruncher]

I honestly wonder how anybody could possibly survive on $400AUD per week. The joint is horrendously expensive. I've lived & travelled to various parts of the world, so I'm hardly neive, but I can now see first hand how expensive the place has become.

The price of food in the supermarket amazes me.

I can see the locally made cars are cheap (prices haven't changed much) but it's easy to see the cars are being built to a price point and quality is poor. Soon that option will be completely gone as all vehicle manufacturers are winding up business there.

The price of imports is going to rise soon, as the dollar drops.

The price if internet is a complete joke, I laughed at how expensive it was, thought they were joking.....and the good money doesn't mean speed, the internet speeds are low. Outside the cities he phone signal constantly drops and the local country roads are pathetic.

The lucky country it once was, not anymore. Fat cats like Clive (all 3 tonnes of him) & other jokers keep getting richer and pay minimal taxes while the working class are taxed to within an inch of their lives.

Then Rees the millions of welfare bludgers, that line the streets, stinking the place up and moaning about how they got locked up for this and that and so forth......these must be some if the dead heads on $400 per week. The reality is, they also get cheap housing, free health care, bus rides, this and that, what a joke, there's no shortage of them crime ing the place up and stealing from the working class while they are out trying to earn enough money to pay their ever expanding tax bills.

Income tax,

GST

Capital gains tax,

Medicare levy

Medicare levy surcharge

Fire levy

Local council rates

Departure taxes

Excise taxes

fringe benefits tax

inheritance tax

superannuation tax

fuel levy (3x3) (3x3 was suppose to be 3 cents for 3 years and was brought in some 25-30 years ago.

Carbon tax (no defunct) & soon to be replaced.

Payroll taxes

disability levies

The real victims are the working class, the ones that earn between 50k and 150k, there the ones that earn reasonable money and probably end up with less than$400 after all the <deleted> taxes are paid.

Australia is a joke, corrupt pollies and fat cats..... nothing changes, just the names of the taxes. What a shitehole.

The real victims are the working class, the ones that earn between 50k and 150k, there the ones that earn reasonable money and probably end up with less than$400 after all the <deleted> taxes are paid.

I think that is where the real problem starts. Where I come from the working class doesn't earn that kind of figure, however some 25 years ago there was an indication that it would go that direction, when workers kept protesting that they didn't earn enough and had to work too many hours.Luckily the government was able to nip it in the bud.

What people seem to forget is that when salaries go up, everything goes up, and will reach a point where the smallest setback will be difficult to correct, thereby starting a chain reaction.

[midas]

And how many are struggling financially because a huge proportion of their meagre income is going towards paying off a preposterously high mortgage? Real estate values in some cities are off the planet and completely unsustainable.

AUSTRALIA'S real estate market is in a bubble that will burst and wipe out up to half the value of property, a leading US economist has predicted. "I see it like a popcorn popper, different markets are bursting at different times … but all of real estate in coastal cities all around the world is greatly overvalued and they're all going to burst whether it be 30 per cent or 40 per cent ... or 90 per cent in the worst case," Mr Dent said.

http://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/us-demographer-predicts-hit-to-aussie-home-prices/story-fndba8uq-1226816510923

[ClutchClark]

I honestly wonder how anybody could possibly survive on $400AUD per week. The joint is horrendously expensive. I've lived & travelled to various parts of the world, so I'm hardly neive, but I can now see first hand how expensive the place has become.

The price of food in the supermarket amazes me.

I can see the locally made cars are cheap (prices haven't changed much) but it's easy to see the cars are being built to a price point and quality is poor. Soon that option will be completely gone as all vehicle manufacturers are winding up business there.

The price of imports is going to rise soon, as the dollar drops.

The price if internet is a complete joke, I laughed at how expensive it was, thought they were joking.....and the good money doesn't mean speed, the internet speeds are low. Outside the cities he phone signal constantly drops and the local country roads are pathetic.

The lucky country it once was, not anymore. Fat cats like Clive (all 3 tonnes of him) & other jokers keep getting richer and pay minimal taxes while the working class are taxed to within an inch of their lives.

Then Rees the millions of welfare bludgers, that line the streets, stinking the place up and moaning about how they got locked up for this and that and so forth......these must be some if the dead heads on $400 per week. The reality is, they also get cheap housing, free health care, bus rides, this and that, what a joke, there's no shortage of them crime ing the place up and stealing from the working class while they are out trying to earn enough money to pay their ever expanding tax bills.

Income tax,

GST

Capital gains tax,

Medicare levy

Medicare levy surcharge

Fire levy

Local council rates

Departure taxes

Excise taxes

fringe benefits tax

inheritance tax

superannuation tax

fuel levy (3x3) (3x3 was suppose to be 3 cents for 3 years and was brought in some 25-30 years ago.

Carbon tax (no defunct) & soon to be replaced.

Payroll taxes

disability levies

The real victims are the working class, the ones that earn between 50k and 150k, there the ones that earn reasonable money and probably end up with less than$400 after all the <deleted> taxes are paid.

Australia is a joke, corrupt pollies and fat cats..... nothing changes, just the names of the taxes. What a shitehole.

NeverDie,

Don't hold back on our account. Go ahead and tell us how you really feel.

Cheers

Edited October 13, 2014 by ClutchClark

[neverdie]

And how many are struggling financially because a huge proportion of their meagre income is going towards paying off a preposterously high mortgage? Real estate values in some cities are off the planet and completely unsustainable.

AUSTRALIA'S real estate market is in a bubble that will burst and wipe out up to half the value of property, a leading US economist has predicted. "I see it like a popcorn popper, different markets are bursting at different times but all of real estate in coastal cities all around the world is greatly overvalued and they're all going to burst whether it be 30 per cent or 40 per cent ... or 90 per cent in the worst case," Mr Dent said.

http://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/us-demographer-predicts-hit-to-aussie-home-prices/story-fndba8uq-1226816510923

Leaving the marketplace open for all to rape and pillage was a great mistake. 1st home buyers have borrowed well beyond their means, which was alright with short term fixed loans (& variable loans) at 4.5 to 6%. [Reserve rate at 2.5% & soon to be on it's way up towards 5 again]. Times almost up, what's going to happen when home loan interest rates gradually rise a few % ? I guess the govt will encourage more Chinese to buy as the Aussie paseo drops the foreigners will be able to buy more.....if they dare invest in an economy with a VERY Flexiable currency.

Soon the Aussies can fly a redder flag and I'm not talking red white and blue with stars either.

A good country driven into the ground by idiots.

[neverdie]

I honestly wonder how anybody could possibly survive on $400AUD per week. The joint is horrendously expensive. I've lived & travelled to various parts of the world, so I'm hardly neive, but I can now see first hand how expensive the place has become.

The price of food in the supermarket amazes me.

I can see the locally made cars are cheap (prices haven't changed much) but it's easy to see the cars are being built to a price point and quality is poor. Soon that option will be completely gone as all vehicle manufacturers are winding up business there.

The price of imports is going to rise soon, as the dollar drops.

The price if internet is a complete joke, I laughed at how expensive it was, thought they were joking.....and the good money doesn't mean speed, the internet speeds are low. Outside the cities he phone signal constantly drops and the local country roads are pathetic.

The lucky country it once was, not anymore. Fat cats like Clive (all 3 tonnes of him) & other jokers keep getting richer and pay minimal taxes while the working class are taxed to within an inch of their lives.

Then Rees the millions of welfare bludgers, that line the streets, stinking the place up and moaning about how they got locked up for this and that and so forth......these must be some if the dead heads on $400 per week. The reality is, they also get cheap housing, free health care, bus rides, this and that, what a joke, there's no shortage of them crime ing the place up and stealing from the working class while they are out trying to earn enough money to pay their ever expanding tax bills.

Income tax,

GST

Capital gains tax,

Medicare levy

Medicare levy surcharge

Fire levy

Local council rates

Departure taxes

Excise taxes

fringe benefits tax

inheritance tax

superannuation tax

fuel levy (3x3) (3x3 was suppose to be 3 cents for 3 years and was brought in some 25-30 years ago.

Carbon tax (no defunct) & soon to be replaced.

Payroll taxes

disability levies

The real victims are the working class, the ones that earn between 50k and 150k, there the ones that earn reasonable money and probably end up with less than$400 after all the <deleted> taxes are paid.

Australia is a joke, corrupt pollies and fat cats..... nothing changes, just the names of the taxes. What a shitehole.

NeverSure,

Don't hold back on our account. Go ahead and tell us how you really feel.

Cheers

I'm neverdie.

the other guy is Neversure. one of us is a gun slinger from the USA and the other is not.

switch on CC.

[TheCruncher]

And how many are struggling financially because a huge proportion of their meagre income is going towards paying off a preposterously high mortgage? Real estate values in some cities are off the planet and completely unsustainable.

AUSTRALIA'S real estate market is in a bubble that will burst and wipe out up to half the value of property, a leading US economist has predicted. "I see it like a popcorn popper, different markets are bursting at different times but all of real estate in coastal cities all around the world is greatly overvalued and they're all going to burst whether it be 30 per cent or 40 per cent ... or 90 per cent in the worst case," Mr Dent said.

http://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/us-demographer-predicts-hit-to-aussie-home-prices/story-fndba8uq-1226816510923

Leaving the marketplace open for all to rape and pillage was a great mistake. 1st home buyers have borrowed well beyond their means, which was alright with short term fixed loans (& variable loans) at 4.5 to 6%. [Reserve rate at 2.5% & soon to be on it's way up towards 5 again]. Times almost up, what's going to happen when home loan interest rates gradually rise a few % ? I guess the govt will encourage more Chinese to buy as the Aussie paseo drops the foreigners will be able to buy more.....if they dare invest in an economy with a VERY Flexiable currency.

Soon the Aussies can fly a redder flag and I'm not talking red white and blue with stars either.

A good country driven into the ground by idiots.

The idiots are those that abused the system because their greed and ignorance prevented them to look ahead, as you say home buyers borrowed well beyond their means.

In short, they dug their own grave.

[kurnell]

I'm going there in 5 weeks. I hope I can still buy my Eggs Benedict and coffee for $20 in Glebe

[neverdie]

I'm going there in 5 weeks. I hope I can still buy my Eggs Benedict and coffee for $20 in Glebe

Don't count on it.

Whatever if cost you over that let me know and I will pay the difference. $20 doesn't buy much these days.

[kurnell]

I'm going there in 5 weeks. I hope I can still buy my Eggs Benedict and coffee for $20 in Glebe

Don't count on it.

Whatever if cost you over that let me know and I will pay the difference. $20 doesn't buy much these days.

It was less than $20 in 2013, so things can't have changed that much. I can still get a bottle of NZ Sauvignon Blanc for $15 and a cheap &lt;deleted&gt; hooker for $80

[bdenner]

What utter rot! Not only the OP but from the budding ThaiVisa economists. Bloody "Hand Wringing, Social Engineers" airing their own colorful agenda again.

Headlines probably should have read 1 in 7 "basket case" Australian Farang living in Thailand are living below the poverty line.

Edited October 13, 2014 by bdenner

[AlexRRR]

Its not just an aussie thing its world wide, the middle classes have been slowly screwed to the point were we are almost the working poor.

In Australia it was going on for a while but it took a Labour goverment...the party for the worker...to bring in what they said was "The Accord", Bob and co made it sound great and in theroy it was but few things work as well in practice as in theroy.

Since those days the ordinary guy has been slowly squeezed, trading off workers hard earned rights won by the unions...for "productivity gains" just to get a pay rise, these days there are no longer cpi increases as once was that protected workers from falling behind.

Unions have been smashed, both labor and liberal's talk the same talk, and it was the last labour goverment that bought in crazy new taxes when we and the world couldnt afford it.

Liberals belive in the trickel down affect, Labour havent a clue how to run a country, yes were over taxed, but the main problem goes back to the 80s when they began to privatise everything, now these once run goverment utilities need to make a record profit every year to keep the share holders happy.

Once the workers were checked mated and utilities sold off....middle to upper mangment salarys grew to obscene levels...

Its a world wide thing not just Australia.

As for the dude craping on about welfare payments your talking nonsense, when i started work in the late 60's approx unemployment rate was just over 1% of the population, that meant that 1% were mainly the lazy lot, but today 5% plus is normal and no one even thinks we have a problem when its around 6.7% that its hovering around now, the people who are not on payments, under employed and part time workers are not counted in that 6.7%. my guess is its closer to 12% and that would be concervative.

How do you fix it? High earners need to be paying more tax, less tax breaks, the current property boom is being run by investors, we need a sales tax on property over a certian amount, we need to rejig negative gearing, we need excutives of companys to prove that there worth there pay packets, we need to bring back cpi increases for workers below a set limit.

[midas]

And how many are struggling financially because a huge proportion of their meagre income is going towards paying off a preposterously high mortgage? Real estate values in some cities are off the planet and completely unsustainable.

AUSTRALIA'S real estate market is in a bubble that will burst and wipe out up to half the value of property, a leading US economist has predicted. "I see it like a popcorn popper, different markets are bursting at different times but all of real estate in coastal cities all around the world is greatly overvalued and they're all going to burst whether it be 30 per cent or 40 per cent ... or 90 per cent in the worst case," Mr Dent said.

http://www.news.com.au/finance/real-estate/us-demographer-predicts-hit-to-aussie-home-prices/story-fndba8uq-1226816510923

Leaving the marketplace open for all to rape and pillage was a great mistake. 1st home buyers have borrowed well beyond their means, which was alright with short term fixed loans (& variable loans) at 4.5 to 6%. [Reserve rate at 2.5% & soon to be on it's way up towards 5 again]. Times almost up, what's going to happen when home loan interest rates gradually rise a few % ? I guess the govt will encourage more Chinese to buy as the Aussie paseo drops the foreigners will be able to buy more.....if they dare invest in an economy with a VERY Flexiable currency.

Soon the Aussies can fly a redder flag and I'm not talking red white and blue with stars either.

A good country driven into the ground by idiots.

The idiots are those that abused the system because their greed and ignorance prevented them to look ahead, as you say home buyers borrowed well beyond their means.

In short, they dug their own grave.

“home buyers borrowed well beyond their means “

nobody listened to the warning from Australian Steve Keen in 2011 who in my view very much deserved to be listened to, bearing in mind he predicted the first global financial crisis would happen in 2008.

Edited October 13, 2014 by midas

[mommysboy]

Doubt that it is much different from UK, or USA.

Sent from my i-mobile IQ 1 using Thaivisa Connect Thailand mobile app

[White Christmas13]

I'm going there in 5 weeks. I hope I can still buy my Eggs Benedict and coffee for $20 in Glebe

Eggs Benedict and a nice coffee in Perth is about $14 AUD

[elliss]

"One in seven Australians on poverty line: report"

If only 1 out of 7 is ON the poverty line the it looks as if then other 6 are below it.

That explains why there are so many Australians living/existing in Thailand,

mines a Chang , mate.

[White Christmas13]

I'm going there in 5 weeks. I hope I can still buy my Eggs Benedict and coffee for $20 in Glebe

Don't count on it.

Whatever if cost you over that let me know and I will pay the difference. $20 doesn't buy much these days.

Well send me$ 6AUD then and take your pink glasses off

[White Christmas13]

So how many people live in Thailand below the poverty line ? Every body I know, you have Pension coming in from Thailand?

No you get nothing at all, stop blaming the western countries to support you by paying pensions so you can live in the

beautiful world of LOS

[kurnell]

I'm going there in 5 weeks. I hope I can still buy my Eggs Benedict and coffee for $20 in Glebe

Eggs Benedict and a nice coffee in Perth is about $14 AUD

Yeah, but your chickens have 2 heads. Or is that Tassie?

[White Christmas13]

I'm going there in 5 weeks. I hope I can still buy my Eggs Benedict and coffee for $20 in Glebe

Eggs Benedict and a nice coffee in Perth is about $14 AUD

Yeah, but your chickens have 2 heads. Or is that Tassie?

Right, your eggs benedict includes 2 heads of a chicken in the more civilised world it includes eggs

with a name like Kurnell I hope you don't come from the beautiful part of Sydney

[kurnell]

I'm going there in 5 weeks. I hope I can still buy my Eggs Benedict and coffee for $20 in Glebe

Eggs Benedict and a nice coffee in Perth is about $14 AUD

Yeah, but your chickens have 2 heads. Or is that Tassie?

Right, your eggs benedict includes 2 heads of a chicken in the more civilised world it includes eggs

with a name like Kurnell I hope you don't come from the beautiful part of Sydney

Far-Kurnell is a nice place I hear

[samran]

Shame on Australia. They should raise everyone's taxes and pay the poor so that everyone would be equal equally poor.

Good try, but as far as these things go, the traditional welfare system in Australia is highly targeted and far from generous.

Australia already has one the lowest tax rates to gdp ratios in the world. Yes we do more transfer payments than you guys do, but we are also pretty efficient at it.

What is less well policed is what has become known as 'middle class welfare' which is breaking the budget, but no one wants to talk about as they are massive vote winners. Things like

30% private health insurance rebate. Government held hostage to private insurers raising their fees and then government having to stump up 30 cents in every dollar that they do.

First home buyers allowance - $7k to $21k in some cases for buying your first home.

$5k baby bonus - otherwise known as the flat screen TV supplement. I think they got rid of that one though.

There are also holes in the tax base which need to be closed.

Fuel tax indexation. Had it for a long time and it was given away as an election bribe. Current conservative government trying to bring it back as it is progressively eating away at the revenue base.

Deisel fuel rebate. Designed for farmers, exploited by big mining companies. Another hole in the tax base.

A GST. The faires at the bottom of the garden (ie australian democrats - remember them??) negotiated that one away for what they deemed essential - food, books and a few others which just created more complexity in the tax system and did little to help the actual poor. They should put the GST on everything and then lower tax rates for lower income earners to compensate.

And the biggie. Negative gearing. Mums and dads engineering losses on their rental incomes so that they can offset it against their working income. A massive massive rort. One which is inflating the property market.

And finally, the property market itself. $800k for a mid level suburban house in OZ. Massive mortgage stress going on. I earn a decent salary but shudder how I can afford to live in OZ.

A day of reckoning is coming.

[watcharacters]

Shame on Australia. They should raise everyone's taxes and pay the poor so that everyone would be equal equally poor.

Good try, but as far as these things go, the traditional welfare system in Australia is highly targeted and far from generous.

Australia already has one the lowest tax rates to gdp ratios in the world. Yes we do more transfer payments than you guys do, but we are also pretty efficient at it.

What is less well policed is what has become known as 'middle class welfare' which is breaking the budget, but no one wants to talk about as they are massive vote winners. Things like

30% private health insurance rebate. Government held hostage to private insurers raising their fees and then government having to stump up 30 cents in every dollar that they do.

First home buyers allowance - $7k to $21k in some cases for buying your first home.

$5k baby bonus - otherwise known as the flat screen TV supplement. I think they got rid of that one though.

There are also holes in the tax base which need to be closed.

Fuel tax indexation. Had it for a long time and it was given away as an election bribe. Current conservative government trying to bring it back as it is progressively eating away at the revenue base.

Deisel fuel rebate. Designed for farmers, exploited by big mining companies. Another hole in the tax base.

A GST. The faires at the bottom of the garden (ie australian democrats - remember them??) negotiated that one away for what they deemed essential - food, books and a few others which just created more complexity in the tax system and did little to help the actual poor. They should put the GST on everything and then lower tax rates for lower income earners to compensate.

And the biggie. Negative gearing. Mums and dads engineering losses on their rental incomes so that they can offset it against their working income. A massive massive rort. One which is inflating the property market.

And finally, the property market itself. $800k for a mid level suburban house in OZ. Massive mortgage stress going on. I earn a decent salary but shudder how I can afford to live in OZ.

A day of reckoning is coming.

What amount of gross annual income would you guess an Aussie would need to afford an 800K house?