Poverty is the principal cause of hunger in Australia and the level of poverty is unacceptable. The wealth gap between the rich and poor in Australia has grown over the past decade. Despite more than a decade of continual economic growth, this prosperity has left many in middle Australia standing still and many of the poorest worse off.
In recent times, the Government has even pushed through legislation which is directly contributing to higher poverty by reducing the incomes of many sole parents and people with disabilities.
What are the primary factors that may lead to poverty
Research shows that the main contributing factors are overpopulation, the unequal distribution of resources in the economy, inability to meet high standards of living and costs of living, inadequate education and employment opportunities, environmental degradation, certain economic and demographic trends, and welfare incentives.
In Australia 3 main factors correlate to rising poverty concerns.
1. Inability to meet high standrds of living; such as - housing prices, food prices etc..
"More than 145,000 people aged 15 to 24 are living in poverty and big increases in part-time and casual work are creating a new class of working poor whose incomes do not cover their living costs and work-related expenses". Senate Community Affairs References Committee Inquiry, submission 169, Mission Australia.
2. Low levels of education and employment correlate closely with poverty in particular low paid employment.
The link between employment status and poverty for those of workforce age is well established. This has been one of the driving forces behind Government reform of income support for workforce age people over the last 15 years.
"Overall, the results demonstrate that unemployment continues to be a major cause of poverty in Australia and that employment only provides an escape when it comes in the form of a full-time job. Because many of the new jobs created over the last two decades have been either part-time or casual, they have not been sufficient, by themselves, to protect workers and their families from poverty". Saunders, P, ‘A Perennial problem, Employment, Joblessness and Poverty, January 2006, SPRC Discussion paper no.146
3. Harmful economic systems
Many societies are run on this basic set of principals. Take and maintain control of the government. Use powers of the government to obtain income. Key elements of this process are the main components of this rule:
obtaining income keeping people oppressed/preventing revoltion avoiding overthrow capitol control restricting entry
And just recently another important factor has increasingly become an obvious cause of poverty - Climate change.
So where does this leave us
The interesting aspect is that Hunger itself is also a cause of poverty. By causing poor health, low levels of energy, and even mental impairment, hunger can lead to even greater poverty by reducing people's ability to work and learn.
These circumstancial causes of poverty require major constitutional overhaul, are each equally complex and will less likely be fixed without social revolt: which is not such a common practice in th Australian barbequed, XXXX landscape. So the recommendation here is to feed our hungry. We must provode food to people in need, a drop in the ocean. But, a drop non the less.
By Megan Jackson FOH Charity Director www.feedourhungry.com
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