COVID 19: inequality and social justice

These are tough times. We all have painful lockdown stories. And as a hospital social work manager, I have been deeply involved in preparing for worst case scenarios. Getting familiar with PPE, bereavement and grief counselling via video link, and establishing rapport with patients whilst wearing a mask - to name some of the obvious challenges. That all said, I am lucky to have a job, and a home with enough space so that my family don’t get on each other’s nerves.

And amongst all this, I find myself deeply concerned about the opportunity this pandemic presents to deepen and harden inequality, both in Australia and across the world.

Many of us are familiar with the social determinants of health. Poor people suffer longer and die younger. They are more likely to be disabled, have poorly treated pre-existing conditions, and (in COVID world) riskier lockdown arrangements. They will die from COVID in greater numbers.  Poor people are also far more likely to be in precarious, low paid casual employment, and consequently ineligible for the COVID subsidies currently available. There is no humane justification for this. We are told the line has to be drawn somewhere. That ‘line’ leaves our most vulnerable behind. 

We are told by the champions of free market fundamentalism, that their system is the best way of rewarding effort, and achieving a pure meritocracy. This belief was crystallised by the Lieutenant Governor of Texas, Dan Patrick, who said he would be “willing to risk (COVID) death to protect the economy” for his six grandchildren.

In reality, the kids of the well-off in the US will do a lot better than their poor counterparts. Students of the Great Gatsby Curve will readily observe that there is a strong correlation between high levels of income inequality and low rates of upward social mobility. On standard measurements, Finland and Denmark have the lowest income inequality and the highest level of social mobility. They are true meritocracies. In comparison the USA rates very poorly- around the same level as Argentina. Sadly, Australia is somewhere in between, but headed in the wrong direction.

Australia has the second highest level of household debt to GDP in the world. Yep- look at your credit card and your mortgage (if you are lucky enough to have one). Banks have strongly encouraged us to burn the equity in our homes to fund consumption. And now in the Covid regime we are being encouraged to access our superannuation. In April the ATO approved 456,000 applications to access 3.8 billion dollars worth of super. Food on the table now- and austerity when you retire. Debt is eating our futures. Couple this with the fact that 975,000 people lost their jobs in April. It will be a big hole to climb out of, and for those at the bottom, a couple of rungs will have been knocked of the ladder.

In the US, dairy farmers in Wisconsin have dumped thousands of gallons of milk in a day while food bank lines in San Antonio and Dallas stretched for blocks. This is the system that the right wing of the Liberal Party admire so much. 

That’s not OK.

I don’t want to hear about lifters and leaners and handouts- or snap back- or how we will have to pay it all back.

I do want to hear about massive investments in free public education in child care centres, schools, TAFE’s and universities. And while we are it, lets see a carbon free economy so our kids have a green planet, a universal basic income that guarantees dignity for all, and multinational corporations that pay their fair share of tax.

Why not?