The peak body of Australia’s community services sector, ACOSS, and the United Nations Children’s Fund, UNICEF, are today calling on the new Australian parliament to make tackling growing child poverty a national priority and commit to do more to reduce the problem globally.
As the 44th Parliament sits for the first time in Canberra, and with the Commission of Audit underway, ACOSS CEO Dr Cassandra Goldie said it’s time for all sides of politics, business and the community to come together to develop a comprehensive national poverty reduction plan.
“Reducing poverty must be a key plank of the nation's efforts to improve participation and productivity, and secure a sustainable revenue base to meet the future needs of our country,” Dr Goldie said.
“The sad reality is that despite two decades of strong economic growth and enormous success in reducing child poverty since the 1980’s, we’ve gone backwards in recent years. Our updated Poverty in Australia report, which we are releasing today, shows that nearly 600,000 or 17.3% of children in Australia are living in poverty.”
“The most recent Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia (HILDA) report found that child poverty has increased by 15% since 2001. Half of these children are in sole parent families, and Australia has the fifth highest poverty rate for sole parent families of OECD countries.
“The early signs of our new government seem to be taking us in the wrong direction. Foreign aid, the school kids bonus, the modest supplementary allowance for people unemployed and the low income super contribution rebate are all on the chopping block without clear plans to invest more in our poorest children, families and communities.
“In contrast, many tax breaks for people on higher incomes seem set to be continued,” Dr Goldie said.
UNICEF Australia spokesperson, Tim O'Connor said, “The only way to reverse this disturbing trend is for the new parliament to unify behind a renewed commitment to reduce child poverty.”
“We must start by developing a national anti-poverty plan with children at the centre. This national plan needs to be ambitious but both attainable and measurable. We already have a model in the UN Millennium Development Goals, which have been enormously successful in reducing child poverty globally.
“It is ironic that while internationally the rate of child poverty is decreasing, a wealthy nation like Australia is slipping when we really should be a world leader in ensuring that all our children get the best possible start in life so they can reach their full potential.
“We also urge the new Government to keep children at the centre of our international development efforts in the wake of deep cuts to our foreign aid budget and a re-focus of aid priorities," Mr O'Connor said.
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