Poverty, Deprivation and Exclusion Among Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians

Poverty, Deprivation and Exclusion Among Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Australians
—Peter Saunders, Social Policy Research Centre, UNSW
CAEPR Seminar Series, 31 October 2007 Streaming Audio / MP3
Abstract: The problematic nature of using low income as a proxy for poverty is widely acknowledged amongst Australian poverty researchers in general, and Indigenous researchers in particular. The reliance on income fails to recognise the multi-dimensional nature of poverty and disadvantage and the credibility of the findings depends upon the poverty line on which they are based. This paper presents findings from a new study that is seeking to identify what constitutes material deprivation and social exclusion as a way of developing new indictors of poverty and disadvantage. The study is being conducted in collaboration with ACOSS, Mission Australia, The Brotherhood of St Laurence and Anglicare, Sydney, and its basic premise is that the measurement of poverty must be grounded in the actual living standards and experiences of those identified as poor. The findings are based on two surveys one of the general population, the other of users of welfare services, that explore community understandings of different dimensions of deprivation, social exclusion and poverty. The extent and severity of deprivation and social exclusion will be compared with conventional poverty measures, in total and for specific sub-groups in the population, including Indigenous Australians.