Aust, poverty on increase

Press, 12 July 1984, Page 34

Aust, poverty on increase

NZPA-AAP Sydney The number of Australian families, with children, living below the poverty line has increased 22 per cent since 1979, according to the latest report from the Institute of Family Studies.

The study, based on a national survey conducted by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in August, 1982, and quarterly updates of the poverty line, found between

1.8 and 2.8 million Australians living below the poverty line. It found that a.slight drop in the number of povertystriken single people was offset by a significant worsening of poverty for families with children. The worst affected group was single-parent families, 59.5 per cent of which are now living below the poverty line.

The director of the institute^Dr Don Eager, said the

figures highlighted the need for pension increases as well as tax cuts in the Australian Federal Budget. “We cannot afford to tolerate the existence of family poverty in an affluent society such as ours. “While across-the-board measures such as tax cuts and family allowances would provide some help to poor families we hope the Government is considering more direct assistance to

low-income families by increasing specific payments to single parents, the unemployed and low-income worker,” he said. The institute calculated that up to 540,000 families, including 725,000 childen, and about one million single people had an income below the poverty line set at sAusts22o ($7047) per annum for a single person either working or seeking work and sAust3967 ($5355) for a person at home.