Fighting Poverty In Australia: Unique Features And Government Approaches

Poverty features in Australia

In Australia, poverty has been a fact of life for a large number of its citizens, despite of the fact that the country is among the wealthiest and developed countries in the whole world. This is a clear implication that poverty is an independent problem and therefore should also be addressed independently. However, poverty in this country is characterized by some unique features and which should also be considered keenly if the country wishes to win the battle. Firstly, statistics indicate that most of the people living below poverty level are indigenous people followed by elderly people. Secondly, trends have shown that poverty among the children and youthful people has been gradually increasing from year to year (Adnan and Ajija, 2015, p.162).  Lastly, it’s the fact that economic inequality in the country is a hidden factor which has been playing big role in the increasing poverty levels. The government of Australia has however been trying its level best in the past to reduce poverty levels among its citizens. Some of the approaches by the Australian government to intervene poverty levels among its citizens include;

Escalation of poverty levels can be directly linked with high unemployment rates as depicted by some of the young economies like Kenya and Rwanda. According to Keynesian theory of poverty, high poverty levels have been directly linked with high unemployment rates within an economy (Melbourne Institute, 2016). This is in consideration to the fact that the small group of employed citizens ends up having so many defendants who ultimately shares their salary to an extent of being left in poverty also. There different ways through which government of Australia can create jobs for its citizens. Among them is the identification of any gap within the country’s economy and open up firms which can employ its citizens. For instance, refined oil is among its top imports from countries like Iran and Iraq.

From an economic point of view, importing refined oil will always be more expensive as compared to importing crude oil because the refinery services are included in the aggregate price of the product (Martinez and Perales, 2017, p.480). For that matter if the government can establish a firm locally to be refining an imported crude oil, there will be more observable advantages than capitalizing of refined oil importation. First, the local firm will absorb a good number of its unemployed population and secondly, it will be a source of income for the country’s economy.

Sustainable job creation

One of the main reason as to why the poor people remain poor for decades is because they are denied access to equal opportunities for growth. For instance, it is hard for poor people who have no major investments to access loans as compared to tycoons who own expensive cars and huge investments, and this because financial organizations consider the worthy of a client before extending any loan (Robson, 2018). For that matter, even if a poor person has business ideas which can easily make him climb the ladder, he or she has his or her goals limited because he cannot access financial support in terms of loans. Through microfinancing approach, the government can bridge this gap by supplying loans and other financial support to the low class citizens who have potential in the business environment.  

High poverty levels do not always imply that the number of employed people is less that the unemployed people. In some countries where poverty levels are high, the number of employed people may be high or equal to the unemployed people (Richards, Kjærnes and Vik, 2016, p.66). However, the high poverty rates in such scenarios can be associated with low minimum wages among the employed population. This makes it hard for those who are employed to support their families satisfactorily. This is because of small earnings which eventually make it hard to satisfy them and hence translating to poverty despite of being employed (Wisor, Bessell, Castillo, Crawford, Donaghue and Hunt, 2016). So, if the Australian government can boost the minimum wages of its employed population, even the approach won’t eradicate poverty fully, it would have a considerable impact on the current poverty statistics of the country. This is because they will be able to support their families fully.

One of the approaches towards the reduced unemployment rates globally has been the adoption of the 24/7 economy. This has been proposed by different economists who realized that there will be no any moment where job opportunities will meet the demands of citizens. So, adopting this approach will be a great milestone by the Australian government towards eradication of high poverty levels among its citizens (Saunders, Wong and Bradbury, 2016, p.100). This will imply that a single job has two employees although operating at different times (one on daytime and the other at night). This means that the firms which have the ability to operate in the 24/7 system will be absorbing twice the number of workers it used to absorb in its previous system. Since unemployment rates have direct impacts on the increasing poverty rates, the 24/7 economy will have a positive impact on the poverty rates within the country.

Microfinancing for low-income citizens

Just like in many economies in the world, the backbone of Australian economy is agriculture. Promotion of agricultural sector would therefore have huge impacts as far as reduction of poverty rates within the country is concerned. Some of the ways through which Australian government can support agricultural sector of its economy is by providing farmers with unaffordable necessities facilitating the sector like expensive machineries (Smeeding and Thévenot, 2016, p.70). Also, sourcing for markets externally will also encourage farmers to produce more goods since they will be assured of ready markets. Education programs to farmers on the best ways to maximize their productions will also help the produce quality goods which meet the market demands. Through these approaches, the country’s population will stand a position of satisfying its citizens as well as opening more opportunities in the food manufacturing sector.

Poverty incidences don’t always imply that the victims have nothing that they can offer or exchange to get money or other basic needs. Some of the poverty stricken individuals maybe producing products that may be exchanged for money and that would reduce poverty among them (Wisor et al, 2016). For instance, cotton farmers in Australia are among the poverty stricken individuals yet cotton is a product that has high demands in countries like China, Bangladesh and Vietnam. As a way of helping these farmers out of poverty, the government can source for markets in these and other countries which have high demands for these products. Also, such like people can be assisted by creation of textile industry which will not only absorb some of the unemployed people but also will act as markets for the cotton produced by this population stricken by poverty (Smeeding and Thévenot, 2016, p.70). Through these two approaches, the government will have reduced the poverty levels within the country. Encouraging trade within the country can also mean favorable terms of trade within the country and which can be achieved through favorable policies which encourage local trade.

Conclusion

As depicted in the above five points, it is possible for Australia government to intensely reduce poverty rates among its citizens. This is in consideration to the fact that some of these approaches have proved effective in countries with the lowest poverty rates globally. For instance Korea, with poverty rate of 17% achieved the level through job creation strategy. Also, Iceland which is in the category of countries with low poverty rates achieved its current state through the microfinancing approach. So, these and other live examples prove that the approaches can really work miracles. Their adoption by the Australian government would therefore have an impact in the poverty rates of the country.

References

Adnan, M.A. and Ajija, S.R., 2015. The effectiveness of Baitul Maal wat Tamwil in reducing poverty: the case of Indonesian Islamic Microfinance Institution. Humanomics, 31(2), pp.160-182.

Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, 2016. Poverty lines: Australia (December quarter 2015).

Martinez, A. and Perales, F., 2017. The dynamics of multidimensional poverty in contemporary Australia. Social Indicators Research, 130(2), pp.479-496.

Robson, P., 2018. Book Review: Law and Poverty in Australia: 40 Years After the Poverty Commission.

Richards, C., Kjærnes, U. and Vik, J., 2016. Food security in welfare capitalism: Comparing social entitlements to food in Australia and Norway. Journal of rural studies, 43, pp.61- 70.

Saunders, P., Wong, M. and Bradbury, B., 2016. Poverty in Australia since the financial crisis: the role of housing costs, income growth and unemployment. Journal of Poverty and Social Justice, 24(2), pp.97-112.

Smeeding, T. and Thévenot, C., 2016. Addressing child poverty: How does the United States compare with other nations?. Academic pediatrics, 16(3), pp.S67-S75.

Wisor, S., Bessell, S., Castillo, F., Crawford, J., Donaghue, K. and Hunt, J., 2016. The individual deprivation measure. A gender-sensitive approach to poverty measurement. Australia: International Women’s Development Agency.