Page 500 - Week 02 - Thursday, 11 February 2021
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causes of and the reasons for the extent and nature of poverty and disadvantage in the ACT. It was also tasked with providing guidance about appropriate government and community frameworks, especially in the context of cost implications. The December 2000 publication was described as the final report of the task force, outlining recommendations for responding to poverty in the ACT.
The task group was chaired initially by Anglican Bishop Richard Randerson and then Catholic Bishop Pat Power and, over the period of its work, had about 40 members from federal and territory governments and the community sector. The task group delivered a number of recommendations around identified areas of concern, such as personal safety and wellbeing, better access to services and a wider understanding of service providers, access to financial resources, and affordable and appropriate housing, just to name a few.
No doubt there was an expectation that their collective efforts over that period to investigate, assess and consider the issues would or could lead to a better understanding and perhaps a more targeted approach to reducing the incidence of poverty in a city that is widely regarded as fairly affluent, educated and comfortable.
Two decades later, little seems to have changed. Yes, Canberra does continue to seemingly have the highest average indicators for income, education and employment. In fact, our unemployment rate has been and remains the envy of the rest of the country, largely due to the high percentage of public servants, and we have managed to avoid many of the COVID lockdowns and transmissions. But behind these statistics, there are some uglier facts.
Almost 38,000 people are categorised as living in poverty. We have rough sleepers on a regular basis, some within metres of the Legislative Assembly. Over 25,000 people in low-income households are experiencing food stress. About 9,500 low-income rental households are facing rental stress, and about 8,000 children live in low-income households and so routinely go without many essentials in schooling, food and social activities.
The ACT Council of Social Service, or ACTCOSS, publishes a cost-of-living report that tracks changes in the cost of living for low-income households in the Australian Capital Territory over the previous 12 months and five years. A fact sheet they published last October identified groups in the ACT that face an elevated risk of experiencing poverty. They include Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, people from culturally or linguistically diverse backgrounds, people with a disability, people over 65, and women.
They have also identified other categories that are more at risk of poverty than others: if you are unemployed, if you are on income support, if you rent your home, if you are a single parent—especially if you are a female single parent—and, of course, if you are in low-paid work or part-time work. This is where the poverty cycle entrapment hits families even harder, especially single parent families. If you want to earn enough income to look after your family, you need full-time work. If you work full time then you need child care. And, yes, just as we have the highest paid workers, the highest
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