New data reveals shocking Australian poverty rate – and how to fix it

Shocking new data has exposed a problem affecting more than three million Australians – and it’s tipped to get even worse.

Despite making surprising progress during the pandemic, more than three million Australians are living in poverty, a new study claims.

The study, completed by the Australian Council of Social Services and the University of NSW, has found one in eight Australians, or 13.4 per cent, live below the poverty line – despite that number falling sharply during the pandemic due to increased social security payments.

The harrowing figure, reported in the most recent data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics, becomes worse when it looks at only children, with an average of one in six, or 16.6 per cent, living in poverty in the 2019-20 financial year.

Percentage of all people in poverty from 1999-2019 (50 per cent of median income poverty line, after deducting housing costs). Picture: ACOSS

More than three million Australians are living in poverty. Picture: NCA NewsWire / Adam Yip

While that figure is lower than the beginning of the pandemic – when government lockdowns led poverty to soar to 14.6 per cent nationwide – it is substantially higher than the 12 per cent rate recorded in the June quarter of 2020 – a 17-year low.

The report said the government Covid payments lifted 646,000 people, or 2.6 per cent of the population, out of poverty.

It said the $750 economic support payment and the $275 coronavirus supplement payment allowed singles on JobSeeker to go from $134 below the poverty line to $146 above it, and sole parents with one child from $67 below the poverty line to $228 above it for single parents.

However, the coronavirus supplement payment was scrapped in March 2021, and replaced with a $25-per-week ongoing increase in the JobSeeker payment.

With more people relying on the lowest income support payments to get by after the pandemic than before, the researchers said the number of people living below the poverty line was likely to again rise higher than before Covid-19 hit.

The poverty line was calculated at $489 per week for single adults and $1027 per week for a couple with two children, or half the median income after tax.

In April 2021, 1.95 million Australians were on income support that had previously attracted the coronavirus supplement payment, a rise from around 1.4 million in March 2020.

Research compared the rate of poverty for welfare recipients before and after government Covid relief payments. Picture: ACOSS / UNSW.

Covid support payments helped a substantial number of Australians rise above the poverty line. Picture: ACOSS / UNSW

UNSW Social Policy Research Centre director Carla Treloar said the report highlighted “unacceptable” levels of poverty in the country.

“Australia is one of the wealthiest countries in the world, yet we have one in eight people and one in six children living below the poverty line,” Ms Treloar said.

ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie said the numbers were a “source of great shame.”

“We can and must do better,” she said.

ACOSS chief executive Cassandra Goldie said the poverty statistics were shameful but provided a clear pathway to reducing poverty in Australia.

However, Dr Goldie said the report had highlighted a clear route to bring Australians out of poverty.

“Increasing JobSeeker to at least $73 per day is a crucial first step,” Dr Goldie said.

“Almost doubling the Jobseeker rate pulled 646,000 people out of poverty in 2020,” she said.

“That’s a huge advance in a relatively short period of time.”

According to estimates, increasing JobSeeker to $73 a day would add $14bn to the budget each year and $43bn over the forward estimates.

Social Services Minister Amanda Rishworth said the government had been “really clear” on the JobSeeker rate and raising the payment was not under consideration in the October budget.

“We’ll access it budget by budget, but we also have to be realistic,” she told NCA NewsWire.

“We have inherited a trillion dollars of Liberal debt. We understand Australians are doing it tough, but any measures needed to be considered in the full budget context,” Ms Rishworth said.

She said the JobSeeker rate was indexed on September 20, which was the largest indexation in 30 years for allowances and 12 years for pensions.

Originally published as New data reveals shocking Australian poverty rate – and how to fix it