Mark Peel and Poverty in Australia

Mark Peel and Poverty in Australia

Poverty is a situation when people are deprived of the basic necessities of life. While many Australians rush out to pay their heavy bills there are people who can't afford food as they have to pay for the textbooks of their children. These people of the society can't afford to fulfill their basic needs which others just take for granted. They have very low level of income they are deprived of the opportunities that society offers which others take for granted for instance food, health care, education, and housing and employment opportunity. These people face problems availing food, shelter and clothing. It has been observed that the lower the income of a person the worse the health. This is because these people are surrounded by the ropes of poverty so badly that they find it difficult to make for their health. Mounting evidence is there that more and more people are suffering from poverty and the well-off community is engaged in maximizing their wealth (Bessant, 2007).

We measure poverty in ''poverty lines'' measuring the number of people living below an unacceptable low income level. In Australia Henderson poverty line is still often used as a measure of poverty which was developed in the Henderson poverty inquiry in 1970. Other measures include Organization for Economic co-operation and Development (OECD) poverty line and poverty line used by the European Union and the UK. In the former poverty line is set at 50% of the median income of all the Australians and the latter uses 60% benchmark. A qualitative method is also used which investigates the items people miss out.

Action against Poverty in Australia

Inequality in the availability of resources to meet the needs and desires inherent in the human condition remains a subject that arouses great controversy. The controversy is radicalized when viewed extremes of inequality in which one party lives in abject poverty, lacking the most basic means of subsistence, and other reaches levels of wealth and ostentation unusual. Often the media give us data on which it is stated that the income levels of the hundred richest people in the world equals the income of several million people in the poorest countries.

Among the objectives of the international organizations, starting with the United Nations and followed by other more purely economic as the World Bank, is the eradication of hunger and poverty in the world. That still seems to be the fundamental economic problem that motivates the efforts of all countries and international economic policy oriented. However, time and again, it appears that little progress in this regard and other forces and interests tend to be imposed on the good will of the people, rulers of domestic and international policy makers (Australian Social Trends, 1998).

It is not likely comfort to readers, but in Australia, 10% of people live with income below the poverty line this minimum value varies, depending on the organization making the calculations. According to one of the research centers (similar ...