Page 3680 - Week 09 - Tuesday, 23 August 2011
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video
millions of people live on about $2 per day. Here in Canberra the average full-time weekly earnings are $1,477, the highest in Australia and one of the highest in the world.
That is not to suggest that the cost of paying for food, housing and essential services is not a significant issue for many people in our community. Canberra is an expensive place to live, and for those who are on pensions or earn lower wages things can be very difficult. The large spectrum of incomes and the significant number of very high incomes mean that the mean and the median tell us little about what is happening for the significant proportion of people on the lowest incomes. These are the people that we should be most concerned about and who government assistance should target, rather than providing unnecessary concessions that in reality do little to assist recipients. The real cost of living challenge is to be able to provide a targeted and effective safety net that catches those who really need it.
We have debated and discussed this issue quite regularly over the last 18 months. Many commentators have had their say on this issue and what they think it is all about. And many across Australia have gone to great lengths to debunk the myth that there is a great cost of living crisis.
In a previous debate I referred to the recently launched OECD initiative “your better life” and advocated strongly for improved measures of our progress as a community to ensure that we are delivering the greatest prosperity to the greatest number in a responsible manner that ensures that that prosperity is sustainable and extends to everyone in the community, not just the fortunate majority.
I have spoken at some length in previous debates about what the Greens have done to assist those for whom the cost of living is a real issue and, further, what everyone in the community can do to reduce their housing, energy, water and transportation costs.
I have also spoken about the Gini coefficient and a range of other measures used to assess income distribution. I note that the “measuring our progress” website has data only up to 2008. I must admit that I do not know how often this data is published by the ABS, but I think that it would be well worth the effort for the government to follow up and try and get some more information to see what the current situation is and whether or not we have improved.
The Greens have addressed the issue of cost of living comprehensively and proposed real and tangible policies on how to address the increasing costs of basic services for both the broader community and, especially, those most in need who feel the impacts most acutely.
I understand that the Liberal Party no longer accept that human-induced climate change is happening and have decided instead to pin their colours to Tony Abbott’s fanciful strategy that would see all taxpayers footing the bill for the cost of pollution emitted for the benefit of wealthy business owners at the expense of all those who have done very little to contribute to the problem.
Next page . . . . Previous page . . . . Speeches . . . . Contents . . . . Debates(HTML) . . . . PDF . . . . Video