Adam Poulter is Acting CEO of the ACT Council of Social Service (ACTCOSS).
In one of his Discworld novels, Terry Pratchett wrote of the “Boots” theory of socioeconomic unfairness. This theory states that while someone of high wealth can afford to buy quality boots that will last for years, someone of more meagre means can only afford to buy cheap boots that would last only a short while. In the long term, the rich spend less on life’s necessities while the poor spend more.
Each year, the ACT Council of Social Service produces an ACT Cost of Living Report. These reports track changes in the cost of living for Canberrans living on low incomes. This past year, we have seen the greatest increase in inflation in over 20 years coincide with the withdrawal of COVID-19 income supports.
Canberra is an affluent community. The ACT has Australia’s highest average weekly earnings. But for those living below the average – including over 38,000 people living below the poverty line – Canberra can be a very cold, hard place.
Canberra has the highest capital city rents for houses and units and the highest rate of rental stress among private renters in Australia. The latest Rental Affordability Index found the ACT is the least affordable place in our nation to rent if you are a living on a low income. This is the experience of many essential workers providing disability support, aged care, and childcare in Canberra.
The Australian Bureau of Statistics recently released stark statistics highlighting how First Nations people disproportionately experience homelessness, housing stress, and unsuitable housing in our community.
For First Nations people, including ACT’s Traditional Custodians, this means that living on Ngunnawal country is becoming increasingly unaffordable.
Canberra’s cost of living puts many within our community at risk.
As Sue Webeck, CEO of the Domestic Violence Crisis Service, told us, “As the cost of living rises, the impact for those experiencing domestic, family, and intimate partner violence can be devastating, as it can play a direct role in their decision or capacity to leave a violent relationship.”
Over the past year, Canberra community organisations have seen demand for support increase as households have struggled to stretch declining budgets to cover rising costs of basics.
Anglicare ACT branch CEO, Jeremy Halcrow told us, “Anglicare’s crisis and relief services in the ACT are seeing very high demand for emergency assistance, including more people who are full-time workers.
“People are having to make hard choices between rent, bills, and putting food on the table. This is putting huge pressure on services. In fact, Anglicare in Canberra only has four weeks of food left at our warehouse for relief hampers, and we are concerned about running out prior to winter.”
Cost of living has found itself front and centre of the Federal Election.
Our research highlights that those hit hardest by surging fuel prices and record-high rents are those with the least.
These households spend more of their income on life’s essentials – and the prices of necessities have risen higher than life’s luxuries. Far from comic fantasy, the “Boots” theory of socioeconomic unfairness is a grim reality.
The Coronavirus Supplement introduced at the beginning of the pandemic saw Canberra’s poverty rate plummet. For the first time in years, many Canberrans were able to eat fresh fruit and vegetables regularly, or to fill out their medical prescriptions without thinking twice. Once withdrawn, the poverty rate bounced back to even higher levels than before. This proved that as a society – through our elected representatives – we can choose to reduce poverty, or not.
Raising the JobSeeker Payment from $46 a day to at least $70 would reduce poverty instantly. This is the main ask of the Raise the Rate for Good campaign which ACTCOSS is calling on all ACT Federal Election candidates to support.
We are also calling on candidates to support the Everybody’s Home campaign. This calls for the next Federal Parliament to deliver a 25,000 dwelling per year social and affordable housing package to reduce homelessness, kick-start housing construction, and grow jobs and incomes.
A colleague recently recalled how at the last Federal Election, they watched as a toddler posted their parent’s ballot, and said, “Good luck piece of paper.” Those flimsy bits of papers carry a lot of weight and expectations. They can make an enormous difference to the lives of those with the least in our community, those who have not shared in the same luck as most of us.
