Nearly one in three single-parent households in Australia live in poverty, Hilda report shows
A major national survey has revealed a “silent crisis” among Australian families, with nearly one-in-three single-parent households living in poverty.The newly released statistical report on the long-running Household, Income and Labour Dynamics in Australia survey found that, after adjusting for housing costs, 31.3% of single-parent families were living below the poverty line in 2023.Sign up: AU Breaking News emailThis group is nearly three times more likely to be in poverty than two-parent households, the survey showed.The latest reported figure was down from a record high reported in 2022, but was still well above the 25% share of single-parent households in poverty a decade earlier and higher than the 28.
3% in poverty in 2003.Hilda’s co-director, Roger Wilkins, said the history of the survey revealed a worsening trend over the past 10 to 15 years as changes under the Howard and Gillard governments forced single parents – predominately mothers – off parenting payments and on to less generous unemployment benefits.Wilkins, from the Melbourne Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research, said a household was considered to be in poverty if its income after paying tax and rent or the mortgage was less than half that of a middle-income household.This relative measure of poverty was “a bit of a moving target.If average living standards rise so does the poverty line,” Wilkins said.
“But average living standards haven’t been rising in recent years, so we can’t really claim that as a defence on why we are not making progress.”Wilkins said that despite evidence of a long-term policy failure, the issue of climbing poverty among single parent households seemed to “have real trouble getting any traction in the public consciousness”.“It’s like this silent crisis in the community.It’s not some statistical anomaly, it’s translating to real suffering experienced by a lot of people.”“It’s a demographic group we should be concerned about.
“And it’s not just the single parents, it’s the children we are potentially entrenching in long-term disadvantage and which is having all sorts of social harms down the track.”Sign up to Breaking News AustraliaGet the most important news as it breaksafter newsletter promotionThe survey showed 34.7% of children in single parent households are in poverty.The Albanese government announced that from September 2023, single parents would be able to stay on the more generous parenting payment until their children turned 14, rather than eight.That change, combined with boosts to rental assistance payments, have helped single parents, Wilkins said.
But he said there was a lot more work to do to lift up the most disadvantaged people,“The first thing is we don’t even have an official poverty measure – we won’t even adopt a standard by which we can hold the government to account,“There are 140 to 150 countries that have an official poverty standard, and we don’t – how does that accord to our self-perception of being an egalitarian society?”
Australia’s fossil fuel earnings set to fall by $50bn a year by 2035
Australia’s production of fossil fuels and the export value of coal and LNG are both predicted to plummet this decade, while at the same time the country reshapes its economy to reach net zero, according to Treasury modelling.The annual value of fossil fuel exports is predicted to fall by $50bn by 2035 if Australia sticks with its current policies and reaches emissions reduction cuts of 65% – an amount in the bottom half of the target range announced this week.Energy experts said the modelling was illustrating what many analysts had been warning for years.“This is dropping the truth bomb again,” said Alison Reeve, the energy and climate change program director at the Grattan Institute.“We have been saying for a long time that if the rest of the world goes for net zero, then it will stop buying our coal and gas
Three people died when Optus network upgrade affected triple zero calls, CEO confirms
Three people died after an Optus network upgrade prevented triple zero calls in three states and territories on Thursday, the telco’s chief executive officer has confirmed.Two of the deceased were in South Australia and one was in Western Australia, Stephen Rue said, but added that welfare checks after the upgrade were “ongoing”.“The upgrade impact … resulted in the failure of a number of triple zero calls in South Australia, Northern Territory and Western Australia,” Rue said in a press conference on Friday afternoon.Sign up: AU Breaking News email“I have been advised that during the process of conducting welfare checks, three of the triple zero calls involved households where a person tragically passed away.”The CEO said about 600 customers were affected by the network upgrade, and that Optus was conducting a thorough investigation
What is new in UK-US tech deal and what will it mean for the British economy?
Donald Trump’s arrival in the UK on Tuesday night was accompanied by a multibillion-dollar transatlantic tech agreement.The announcement features some of the biggest names from Silicon Valley: the chipmaker Nvidia; the ChatGPT developer, OpenAI; and Microsoft. Big numbers were involved, with Microsoft hailing its $30bn (£22bn) investment as a major commitment to the UK – and adding, in an apparent swipe at its rivals, that it was not making “empty tech promises”.Here is a breakdown of the announcements in the UK-US “tech prosperity deal”, spelling out what is explicitly new in them.Microsoft’s president, Brad Smith, hailed the “single biggest announcement” in the pact and insisted it was not an empty promise
UK is going to be ‘AI superpower’, says Nvidia boss as he invests £500m
Jensen Huang, the co-founder and chief executive of the US AI chipmaker Nvidia, has predicted “the UK is going to be an AI superpower” as he announced a new £500m investment in a British firm.Huang, who is due to join Donald Trump at Wednesday night’s state banquet with the king, said he was taking an equity stake in NScale, a UK cloud computing company, and predicted it would earn revenues of up to £50bn over the next six years.“We’re here to announce that the UK is going to be an AI superpower,” he told a press conference in London.Huang cited as evidence of Britain’s potential its universities and several companies founded in the UK, ranging from the AI giant DeepMind to the driverless car startup Wayve. “You just don’t appreciate it
Prelim stage set for Nick Daicos and Will Ashcroft to stake claim as generation’s best | Martin Pegan
Collingwood star Nick Daicos is well on the way to putting together the most imperious first 100 games this century. It is arguably among the best starts to a career in the AFL-era, and only the unreliability of memory and difficulty in comparing one period to another should prevent Daicos from being ranked alongside the most immediately impactful players of all time. But there might already be a challenger to Daicos’s crown as Brisbane midfielder Will Ashcroft begins to stake a claim to being the best young footballer of this generation.With his sidesteps and swerves and arched lower back, Daicos is almost impossible to tackle once on the move. He rarely loses his feet and is tougher at the contest than opposition supporters might care to admit
Pressure is a privilege for England who must deliver when it matters against France | Ugo Monye
Without disrespecting any of the opposition the Red Roses have faced, England’s World Cup starts now. Since the draw John Mitchell and his players would have had a pretty good idea they would be locking horns with France for a place in the final. We’re into the sharp end of the tournament and, such are the resources available to England, it would be crazy if they hadn’t plotted for a semi-final against Les Bleues in advance.There is plenty of expectation on the Red Roses but pressure is a privilege and they have dealt with everything that has come their way so far. There is expectation because they are 31 matches unbeaten
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