It's estimated about one in six Australian children grow up in poverty but, without an official poverty line, advocates say the government is flying blind on a crucial issue.
Advocates want the government to follow in New Zealand's footsteps by introducing a Child Poverty Reduction Act.
Joshua and his mum Laura support calls for poverty to be measured, and income supports to be lifted above the poverty line."Mum, actually quite often, misses out on dinner so that there's actually a portion size suitable for the rest of the family the following night. Josh says he's felt the effects of poverty throughout his schooling, while his youngest sister is stuck on a public waitlist to have learning difficulties assessed.Child poverty is tricky to measure, but the OECD reports Australia as having the fourteenth-highest poverty rate among countries it looks at, behind New Zealand and the United States, but ahead of the UK and Canada.
"When we're not measuring it properly it's able to be ignored a little bit," the institute's chief economist Greg Jericho said. "We have been starting to make progress , but the biggest thing here is that we have this clear accountability framework, and it's a commitment across all political parties that reducing child poverty is something that we are committed to," Claire Achmed said.Dr Achmed said while COVID and a cost-of-living crisis had produced an uptick in child poverty, the legislation meant everyone could see the change and how it was tracking against three and 10-year targets.
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