Also, what is its relevance to the ACT where, despite the public service cuts over several years, gross household disposable income per capital regularly leads the nation.

Perhaps that is the point – to wake up "well off" Canberra people about the real situation with poverty, both in the territory and around the nation.

For instance, in this well-heeled city, there's a continual need for the Helping Hand Food Pantry, run every Thursday and Friday morning by Reverend Doug Newman and volunteers, at St Paul's Church in Spence.

The uniformity of Canberra's urban landscape masks the problems of poverty, drugs and homelessness, so some residents may be surprised at the extent of these problems. And many homeless people in Canberra prefer to remain invisible, according to social workers.

Some sleep rough on Mount Ainslie; some meet at the Early Morning Centre on Northbourne Avenue in the mornings and at the Griffin Centre in the evenings. Their ragged appearance can be confronting for white collar workers.

A Natsem report in 2013 was blunt. "Something many people don't realise – in 2011 the ACT had the second highest rate of homelessness (besides the Northern Territory) of all Australian states and territories."

The relatively high incomes in the ACT force up rents, making it extremely difficult for those on marginal incomes to find a place to call home. And all ACT households have to cope with a steep rise in rates.

Against that background, the annual Anti-Poverty Week is an attempt to address these problems, urging action by individuals, communities, organisations and governments.

"Everyone is encouraged to help reduce poverty and hardship by organising an activity during the week or taking part in an activity organised by others," the website says.

For Jeremy Halcrow, co-chair of Anti-Poverty Week ACT and also chief executive of the local branch of Anglicare, the key word is hardship.

"The purpose of Anti-Poverty Week is to raise public understanding of the causes and consequences of poverty and hardship," he says.

"The emphasis on hardship is quite important, it's an attempt to sidestep some of the academic debate that often arises when you start discussing poverty and to focus more on the lived experiences of people and help to address those problems directly.

"In some ways poverty is a word we don't hear much when we're talking about issues in Australia. In the charitable or community sector we tend to talk about social exclusion or disadvantage.

"It's probably too strong to say poverty is a taboo word.

"On the one hand, it can be quite confronting to our self-identity as a nation, as Australians, but particularly in Canberra where we think of ourselves as living in a city where most people are quite comfortable.

"We love to think of Canberra as being a civilised place to live, so talking about poverty in Canberra sort of undercuts that pride we have in our own community."

Halcrow says the charitable sector needs to broaden the discussion on these issues.

"Discussions about poverty in Australia can get very complex quite quickly, they tend to get bogged down very quickly in technical discussion about poverty lines and relative inequity," he says.

"With Anti-Poverty Week, we've learnt over time we really need to engage beyond the usual suspects.

"One of the tendencies in the charitable and community sector is to talk to ourselves a lot about the problem and not really engage beyond."

One way to get people involved is invite school students to write about it – then they'll ask their parents for help.

Pens Against Poverty invited students in years three to six, and seven to eight, to write a story or poem up to 500 words on the theme of shelter. It offered suggestions for themes – Have you even been lost? Moved to a new city? Camped in the rain?

"Poverty and severe hardship affect more than a million Australians; around the world, more than a billion people are desperately poor," the website says.

The entries will be judged by award-winning author Jackie French.

ACTCOSS director Susan Helyar is pleased this year's Anti-Poverty Week has a focus on affordable housing.

"This is extending the conversation about affordable housing beyond the social services sector and engaging the property industry in talking about affordable housing," she says.

"We'd like the ACT government to announce further measures around housing affordability because that's the primary driver of financial hardship in Canberra households."

Helyar says her organisation, the peak body for not-for-profit community organisations in the territory, agrees with the ACT government's move away from stamp duties, but wants to ensure low-income residents are not disproportionately disadvantaged by rising rates.

The government is conducting a review of concessions for expenses for low-income households, to offset the rate rises.

"A really critical role that the government plays is providing concessions for some key expenses so households with low incomes can get access to the basic needs that we have in our community, like keeping a roof over their heads and keeping the power and the gas on," Helyar says.

"We need to make sure the rate concessions that exist are targeted to the households that need them most and, if there are households that are compromised by rates going up, then we should include them in the eligibility for assistance with rates payments.

"One of the biggest cost increases that many households face is electricity and gas charges and, for some households, water charges.

"The government has done a review of concessions on those and we're keen to see what their decisions are going to be and what the options are for improving the access to those concessions to households in similar circumstances."

Chief Minister Andrew Barr says the review of concessions will be released in late October or early November, after his trade mission to the United States.

The government has a longstanding commitment to ensure those on low incomes are protected, the chief minister says.

"The concession review will also look at concessions on energy utilities, for example we may be able to better target our concessions to those on the lowest incomes," he says.

"These are issues that will be looked at through the context of the review but when we started tax reform in 2012 we were very clear we would continue to increase concessions for pensioners as we went through phasing out stamp duty and moving towards the broad-based land tax.

"What we have been doing also is provide a range of downsizing incentives. We have provided more than $20,000 in savings on stamp duty to some, we've had a pensioner concession duty scheme for some time as well and there has been strong take up of that.

"We will continue to look at, as we reform our tax base, providing more assistance for low income earners."

The theme of poverty amid the relative wealth of Canberra was highlighted in a recent speech by member for Fraser Andrew Leigh.

He told the Anglicare national congress last month about the Helping Hand Food Pantry at Spence.

"Since 2007, the pantry has helped people in need access staple foods as well as fresh fruit and vegetables at low cost," Leigh said.

"Anyone who is struggling to afford their weekly grocery bill can stop by and stock up on food donated by local businesses and community groups.

"If you stop by one morning, you'll see all sorts of people using the service: single men in need of a shave, with their socks showing through the holes in their shoes; neatly-dressed mums with three kids in tow, carefully counting out their grocery budget; seniors who've travelled an hour on the bus to get there and so make their pension stretch a bit further.

"What's striking about the Helping Hand Food Pantry is not that Reverend Newman and his team turn up rain, hail or shine to run it, or that Canberrans give so generously to support it – although both of these things are very laudable.

"What's really striking about this service is that it operates in a middle class suburb in one of the wealthiest cities in Australia.

"Even in a prosperous, white-collar place such as Canberra, there are people who find it so hard to make ends meet that they rely on the Helping Hand Food Pantry to stretch their finances through the week.

"These people have become almost invisible in our public debates. So today, I want to talk about the 'invisible people' in Australian public life – those living in poverty."

Leigh said that after a quarter of a century of economic growth in this country, there is a sense that poverty isn't a problem any more in Australia.

"But those of you here today [at the conference] know that poverty is still with us," he said.

Leigh was an ANU economics professor before entering politics and is the author of Battlers and Billionaires.

"The richest fifth of the population can expect to live, on average, six years longer than those in the poorest fifth – that means the wealthiest Australians get to enjoy six more Christmases with their grandchildren than the poor, and six more birthday dinners with friends," he told the conference.

"I hope Reverend Newman and the volunteers at the Helping Hand Food Pantry won't mind me saying this, but I look forward to the day we can put them out of business.

"Because when there's no more mums with kids in tow or single men with holes in their shoes showing up each Thursday and Friday at St Paul's to fill their shopping bags with donated food, that's when we'll know we've really succeeded in tackling disadvantage for the poorest Australians amongst us."

@rosspeakeCT

10 things you can do in Anti-Poverty Week:

1. Organise a forum for local groups to discuss poverty issues in your community and plan some action to address them.

2. If you are in a community organisation, religious group or sporting association, ask them to think about doing something during the week.

3. Arrange an information stall at a local shopping centre or other gathering place about ways people can get help from local services.

4. Organise a meal, concert, game or some other activity to help raise funds for organisations which help disadvantaged people.

5. Arrange a speaker on poverty issues for your workplace or a group you are involved with.

6. Volunteer to help an organisation working with disadvantaged people (for some ideas, see www.volunteeringaustralia.org).

7. Join in an Anti-Poverty Week activity which someone else is organising (see the calendar of activities at www.antipovertyweek.org.au).

8. Start making regular donations to charities and ask friends and workmates to do the same (or agree to exchange presents in future by making donations on behalf of each other).

9. Write a letter to your local paper or MP about some aspect of poverty or other hardship that concerns you.

10. If you are in a business, provide a discount or free offer to people on a low income for some of your products or services during the week.

Source:

http://www.antipovertyweek.org.au