Senate Community Affairs References Committee Inquiry into Poverty in Australia, February 2023.
In February 2023, The Salvation Army provided a submission to the Senate Community Affairs References Committee Inquiry into Poverty in Australia.
The Salvation Army’s submission focused on three broad categories of poverty:
- Shelter, which includes housing and homelessness (the most visible form of poverty) but also shelter from violence, and the implications of poverty on family and domestic violence.
- Health, which covers the social determinants of health and their impact on physical health, food insecurity, substance use disorders, as well as the way in which physical and mental ill-health can be the cause, result and amplifier of economic disadvantage and poverty.
- Participation, both social and economic. The impact of poor economic participation (unemployment, underemployment and job insecurity) is well-understood, yet the lack of, or exclusion from, social participation can have long and deep implications.
The Salvation Army rejects the notion that some cohorts are more ‘vulnerable’ to poverty. There are cohorts which experience poverty in greater numbers and in more pronounced ways, but this is due to the systemic failure of Australian social security systems, not due to the individual’s ‘vulnerability’.
Among the cohorts our system is failing are:
- Women, who experience discrimination, difficulty finding flexible employment and cultural pressures hindering employment. This culminates in economic insecurity in their later lives.
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander People, who are often forced to live distant to Country, have higher rates of unemployment, discrimination and inadequate housing, and are often excluded from decision making which affects them.
- People from Culturally and Linguistically Diverse Backgrounds, whose access to employment and income support are both hampered by structural barriers.
- Young People, who, because of factors outside of their control, are often unable to break the cycle of disadvantage to achieve their full potential.
- Rural and Remote Communities, who experience poor access to services and affordable accommodation, and for whom the increasing impacts of climate change are most acute.
- People with Disability, who face additional barriers to gaining and maintaining employment, accessing government assistance, and participating in their community.
The Salvation Army calls for government action to address both the individual experience and the structural elements that are causing those experiences. Many of our recommendations come down to the need for a rethink of the welfare system and for a much-needed increase to the base rate of the JobSeeker Payment and Youth Allowance. As JobSeeker is the baseline of social security in Australia, it follows that increasing JobSeeker is the single biggest action that can, and must, be taken to address poverty in Australia and allow people in Australia to live with dignity.
The Salvation Army believes that the solutions are in addressing structures, and the holes in the safety net. Where gender, age, disability, geographic location and ethnicity amplify the experience of poverty, we must do better.
The Committee released an interim report, which benefited significantly from The Salvation Army’s submission. The final report will be delivered to the Senate by October 2023.