population growth destroys qld living standards

http://www.news.com.au/couriermail/story/0,23739,20585958-3102,00.html#


Our hidden shame

Janelle Miles

October 16, 2006 12:00am
Article from: The Courier-Mail

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AT least one in 10 Queenslanders lives in poverty, a report has found.
The report, prepared by the University of Queensland Social Research Centre, conservatively estimates poverty affects more than 230,000 adults and 100,000 children in the Sunshine State.

Based on the state's 28 federal electorates, the worst-affected region is Wide Bay with a poverty rate of 13.8 per cent, followed by Hinkler and Maranoa with 13 per cent, Capricornia (12.6 per cent) and Longman (11.7 per cent).

By comparison, Australia's poorest electorate of Braddon in Tasmania has a poverty rate of 15.1 per cent.

The Poverty in Queensland report, which will be released today, found the upmarket Brisbane-based seat of Ryan experiences the least poverty, affecting 5.4 per cent of the population.

It said the number of applicants on waiting lists for subsidised public housing skyrocketed from 24,400 to 38,300 between 2001 and 2005.

Almost a quarter of Australia's 99,900 homeless people lived in Queensland, the report said.

Queensland had a homelessness rate of 70 per 10,000 people compared with between 40 and 50 per 10,000 in NSW and Victoria.

The 43-page report, prepared for the Queensland Council of Social Service, found people who failed to finish Year 12 were more likely to end up in poverty.

Despite Queensland's 4.8 per cent unemployment rate, a 30-year low, the report said people in low-paid, casual and part-time employment were not immune to poverty.

QCOSS president Karyn Walsh said the report had suggested poverty was often passed down from one generation to the next.

"One of the things that needs leadership is really addressing the kind of factors that prevent people getting out of poverty where it has been intergenerational," Ms Walsh said.

"For instance, if we keep going down the path that everyone has to pay for their education, then some people are never going to get access to it.

"We are a wealthy society. People shouldn't be living in a wealthy society like Australia without their basic needs for food, clothing, housing and education being met."

The report said 29.7 per cent of Queensland households received government pensions and allowances as their principal source of income.

Queensland Governor Quentin Bryce will launch the report as part of Anti-Poverty Week at St Mary's Catholic Church in South Brisbane today.