Inequality in Australia

Over the last two decades the Australian population has faced a number of economic instabilities that has seen the gap between the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ increase. To determine who the ‘haves’ and ‘have nots’ are an in-depth investigation will be performed examining the circumstances under which the gap can be manipulated. The economic wellbeing of individuals is largely determined by their command over economic resources (ABS, 2009). The wellbeing of individuals who are classified as ‘haves’ are usually people who are asset rich, contain bonds, shares and are fairly affluent. The wellbeing of individuals who are classified as ‘have nots’ are usually the working poor, who have little assets and little investments i.e. bonds. These individuals are usually middle income earners which are categorised as being in relative poverty. Relative poverty as defined by L. Kirkwood, I. Searle, T. Cronk, D. Cave and J. Swiericzuk as the situation of people whose income and lifestyle has fallen below, by more than a certain degree, the average income and lifestyle enjoyed by the rest of society.

The upper and lower quintile is represented by 20 percent, however over the last two decades Australians are noticing a change in the gap between inequalities. In Australia a study by the Australian Bureau of Statistics found that in 1994-1995 the lowest quintile of income earners was at 7.9% which in 2007-2008 was found to be 7.6% meaning that over the 17 years there has been an increase in the lower quintile by .3%. The highest quintile in the years of 1994-1995 was 37.8% this increased in the 17years between the two recordings and in 2007-2008 was observed to be 1.6% larger with 39.4%. This data indicates that the percentage of people in the lowe...

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...come in Australia. This report analysed Australia’s increase in poverty and ultimately the inequality gap between the low income earners and the high income earners. It is evident that although the line between inequality and equality are unlikely to meet it is important that individuals in society are receiving social justice.

Works Cited

The distribution of wealth in Australia by Frank Stilwell & David Primrose (2007) http://evatt.labor.net.au/publications/papers/226.html accessed on May 17, 2011

http://mrwood.com.au/unit1/distinc/distinc1.asp

http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS/abs@.nsf/ProductsbyCatalogue/5F4BB49C975C64C9CA256D6B00827ADB?OpenDocument

http://www.ausstats.abs.gov.au/ausstats/subscriber.nsf/0/7C603E82C20B682ECA25738D000F4F0A/$File/65540_2005-06.pdf

Welfare (2011) http://www.aihw.gov.au/expenditure-faq/#welfare accessed on June 2, 2011