6 steps toward ending child poverty in Australia??

How does a country of wealth, like Australia, still accept children, young people and families experiencing the impacts of poverty? And what are we going to do about it???

At the Centre’s event to launch Anti-Poverty Week , we asked this question and heard evidence that poverty could be ended if there was political motivation to do so.? Uniting Vic.Tas CEO Bronwyn Pike launched the event, sharing her experience in tackling deep social issues. ?

You can view the presentations from Uniting CEO Bronwyn Pike, ANU’s Prof. Sharon Bessell , Family Care CEO David Tennant, Council of Single Mothers & their Children CEO Jenny Davidson , and Swinburne University of Technology Prof. Kay Cook here.?

The Government has many levers that could eradicate child poverty.??

We’ve seen solutions implemented before, and we know the profound impacts lifting families out of poverty will have on the lives and wellbeing of children who are living below the poverty line.???

Allowing children to live in poverty is a choice, and for now, the choice made is to leave our Community Service Organisations, schools and health services, to manage the outcomes and impact poverty is having on our children.?

When people lost their jobs, their businesses, and their incomes during the early months of the Covid-19 pandemic, the Government swiftly stepped in to support people. Banks helped homeowners who were unable to pay their mortgages.??

Many Australians had a taste of what is normal for many - no money coming in at all, or barely enough to cover essentials.?

It didn’t feel like welfare. It felt like the right thing to do.??

A fortnightly Coronavirus supplement was added to JobSeeker of $550 per fortnight in the early months of the pandemic. This payment almost doubled the rate, and ANU data showed the number of JobSeeker recipients living in poverty fell from 76 per cent in 2019 to 15 per cent in June 2020. For sole-parent families, adults and children, poverty was almost halved, from 34 per cent to 19 per cent.?

Australia Institute data revealed the $550 fortnightly addition lifted 425,000 people out of poverty, including 65,000 children aged 0 to 14 years.?

Then in March 2021 - that lifeline was taken away.???

I had the privilege of presenting in August at a hearing of the Senate Inquiry on the Extent and Nature of Poverty in Australia with Prof. Sharon Bessell.?

The Centre's submission to that inquiry reflected the direct experiences of our member organisations who routinely work with children, young people and their families who are struggling to make ends meet.?

In late 2022 our Treating Families Fairly group surveyed our members to find out what impact our current cost-of-living crisis is having on their clients, and we were inundated with responses.??

Two-thirds said many families were either living in poverty or were at high risk of doing so. Ninety per cent said families they worked with were significantly affected by rising possibility in Australia and a further 9% were moderately affected.??

Our members told us working families on average incomes were coming to community service organisations for help with basic needs, for food, medication, rent, and school expenses.???

The systems we've created to support families are complicated, and navigating Social Security and the NDIS is mind-blowing, scattered with punitive systems and welfare conditionality.??

At the Centre, we facilitate the Treating Families Fairly alliance of child and family service organisations, peak bodies and academics advocating for policies that uphold the rights of children and families, and speaking out against policies that cause harm, with a particular focus on social security and welfare conditionality. This group has contributed to eradicating programs such as Parents Next and the cashless card, which place unfair conditions on welfare.?

When we talk child poverty there are a lot of numbers. One in six just rolls off the tongue but doesn’t describe what poverty really means or what daily life is like for each of these kids. It doesn't tell us what they go without, or where they're missing out.?

In most conversations about poverty, no one is really considering the children. Welfare conversations centre around payments to adults, and the choices they make.??

There are many things we can do right now to end child poverty.??

Anti-Poverty Week co-chairs Bronwyn Pike and David Tennant shared some tangible steps to end child poverty. ?

1 Make a commitment that child poverty must stop

Mr Tennant encouraged the child and family services sector to get behind efforts of the Treating Families Fairly and make it a collective action, recognising that poverty is a structural issue.?More information on the Treating Families Fairly alliance and information on how to join can be found here.?

2 Adopt legislation that requires the counting and reporting of child poverty statistics

In New Zealand, the Child Poverty Reduction Act (2018) has focused attention in a national way on an issue that would not be as prominent if there wasn’t a legislated requirement to keep counting and reporting.? Anti-Poverty Week organisers are calling for the Government to pass a Child Poverty Reduction Act through a petition with the Valuing Children Initiative here.?

3?Add measures of poverty, child poverty and targets to Australia’s Wellbeing Framework

The development of Australia's wellbeing framework was fantastic, but it is absent of mentions of poverty and specifically mentions of child poverty. For the framework to be meaningful, it must have targets and the Government must aspire to work toward those targets.?

4 Amend section 8 of the Social Security Administration Act to make the safety and wellbeing of children one of the principles of that Act

Australia’s social security legislation barely mentions children other than in benefits for young people who are unable to live at home because it's unsafe for them to do so, or as criteria for the eligibility of their parents or carers to access benefits. This is not good enough. Making the safety and wellbeing of children a core principle of the Act will make a difference in how the legislation is implemented.?

5 Remove structural inequities in the child support system

The system does almost nothing to help women and penalises them if they are unable to make it work themselves, which is fundamentally unfair.?

6 Include children in conversations about funding and service delivery

ANU’s Prof. Sharon Bessell has shared the importance of including children’s experiences of poverty when we shape legislation and services, and the need to give children the opportunity to reflect on the impact of poverty on their lives and what they would have if life was to be good rather than perpetually tough.

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More information on Treating Families Fairly alliance and information on how to join can be found here

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AntiPovertyWeek.org.au is calling for the Government to pass a Child Poverty Reduction Act to #EndChildPoverty through the Valuing Children Initiative here