Any level of poverty is too high - lets debate how to address poverty, not how to measure it
17 January 2002
From: UnitingCare Australia
Whether the Centre for Independent Studies' report is sounder statistically than the Smith Family's report on poverty is beside the point for Australians who will go to bed hungry tonight. Lin Hatfield Dodds, National Director of UnitingCare Australia said today, "We all know the issues. Everyone working in the community knows the extent of the problem. How we address poverty is much more critical than any measurement of it. In a country as affluent as Australia any level of poverty is unacceptable."
"A preoccupation with the relative merits of a half average or a half median poverty line is absurd and offensive against the reality of living in poverty. Poverty is standing in the supermarket queue planning what to put back if you've added wrong, being cold in winter, not sending your children on the $4 school excursion because you can't pay for it, wearing clothes that don't fit or are falling apart. Poverty is hunger, cold, hurting. Poverty is difference, fear, desperation."
"Agreement does need to be reached regarding statistical methodology. But technical disagreements in the public domain distract attention from the real issues affecting people living in poverty. Even the conservative figures place 8.7% or approximately 1,740,000 Australians under the poverty line."
"When even on the lower figures well over a million Australians are living in poverty, more needs to be done to address the causes of poverty and alleviate its effects. This should be our primary focus," concluded Ms Hatfield Dodds.
Contact: Lin Hatfield Dodds, National Director
Phone: 02 6290 2160 (w), 0500 543 300 (mob)
