Our kids do better now, and are more likely to do better in the future, when they have their needs met, and when their families are supported to nurture them. But families trying to nurture their kids are sometimes rocked by events they can't control, such as unemployment or illness. When this happens it's down to all of us, and it benefits all of us, to do what we can to help families and kids.
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But as we mark Anti-Poverty Week, and the Senate reviews the adequacy of Newstart and related payments, the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth (ARACY) is increasingly concerned that the damage Newstart-driven poverty is doing to young Australians today, and potentially for the rest of their lives, is not being taken into account, least of all by our political leaders.
ARACY exists to ensure the maximum benefit to Australia's children and taxpayers. We do so by working to ensure policies and programs, designed to help young Australians reach their potential, are based on solid evidence of what works.
ARACY only fairly recently came to the view that Newstart and other benefits should be increased. We did so only after conducting a significant piece of analysis, funded by the Australian government and using data from the government-funded Longitudinal Study of Australian Children which, since 2003, has tracked the development of 10,000 Australian kids and their families.
The findings of our work are summarised in To have and to have not: Measuring child deprivation and opportunity in Australia. The report paints a picture of the extent to which Australian children are having their needs met in key and interlocking areas which research shows are central to a child's wellbeing: Being Loved and Safe; Being Healthy; Learning; Participating; Having a Positive Sense of Identity & Culture and Having Material Basics.
To have and to have not compared deprivation levels across the general population of Australian children with those living with disability, those living in poverty and those living in jobless families.
Our analysis showed that children in jobless families are more likely to suffer deprivation than any other group examined. For example, they are more than four times more likely to be homeless than children in families where an adult works and nearly twice as likely to be bullied or face social exclusion. They are also much more likely to face risks to their education than kids in homes where someone is able to work.
In short, we unexpectedly found that living in a home where no one is able to find a job, a home likely to be reliant on Newstart (or some other form of unemployment support) can potentially have a greater negative impact on a child than that child having a disability. But the impacts can be felt by the children and the communities in which they live well beyond the childhood years.
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Research by The Murdoch Children's Research Institute, Bupa Health and ARACY shows adversity experienced by children in their earliest years can have a negative impact throughout their lifetime. For example, adult conditions such as coronary heart disease, stroke, diabetes, and cancer are now being linked to pathways that originated prior to or during the first 1000 days.
This means the negative impacts caused to kids by today's inadequate Newstart levels can be felt by kids and their communities, in forms including higher rates of unemployment (with the perverse outcome of higher social security costs to taxpayers in the future) and an even more stretched health system.
There are already too many Australian kids in families that are being left behind. The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare (AIHW) recently found that one in nine families with children had no one in the family who was employed, about 9 per cent of workers were underemployed or unable to find as many hours of work as they would like, and more than 1 million low-income households are spending more than 30 per cent of their income on rent or mortgage repayments.
Unemployment is on the rise. ANZ reports that job advertisements fell by 10.4% in September. The threat of global recession seems to strengthen daily. We will continue to be told that "the best form of welfare is a job", and largely, that is true. But this will be cold comfort to the kids in families who, despite their best efforts, find themselves driven to poverty by a pincer of economic conditions and a punitive unemployment benefits policy.
This year the theme of Anti-Poverty Week is "Poverty Exists. Poverty Hurts us all. We can do something about it". ARACY's research backs these statements. Moreover it shows that we must act now to save our kids and our whole community from suffering, now and in the future.
This Anti-Poverty Week, as we debate Newstart, it's time to ensure we give all Australian kids a fair start.
- Penny Dakin is chief executive officer of the Australian Research Alliance for Children and Youth.
