ARACY's To Have and To Have Not: Measuring Child Deprivation and Opportunity in Australia

ARACY has released a groundbreaking report that sheds light on how well children’s needs are being met across five key areas critical to their wellbeing. Using The Nest framework, the report explores:

Being Loved and Safe

Having Material Basics

Being Healthy

Learning

Participating

Having a Positive Sense of Identity & Culture

The findings underscore both the opportunities and the challenges in ensuring that every child has the chance to thrive. Join us in exploring these insights and working toward a better future for all children.

Prolonged higher cost of living affects every aspect of our daily lives, from the food we put on our tables to the energy we used to cool or warm our homes. Alarmingly, the number of people needing help to get by continues to grow, and the most vulnerable among us are often the hardest hit. Persistently elevated demand is overwhelming a community services sector which is already stretched beyond its limits.

We have a vision for a Western Australia where helping its people and communities is above politics, where people get the help they truly need, where everyone has access to a safe, secure and healthy home, where children are given the best start to life, where people can access services when and where they need them, and where no one is left behind.

This National Child Protection Week, the Valuing Children Initiative (VCI) is standing strong behind the theme “Every child in every community needs a fair go.” In a country as wealthy as Australia, it’s unacceptable that one in six children is growing up in poverty. This must change.

Our End Child Poverty Campaign is dedicated to ensuring every child has a fair go. We’re calling on the government to legislate an end to child poverty and make it a national priority.

Professor Sharon Bessell, a key supporter of our campaign, has recently released the report More for Children: Children’s Experiences of Poverty in Australia. This report provides vital insights into the realities faced by children living in poverty in Australia. 

In this research, children's voices are heard as they share their stories and experiences of living in poverty, giving us valuable insight into their perspectives.

It’s research like this that makes the case for urgent action and underscores why the report is crucial to the End Child Poverty Campaign.

Children Policy Centre is behind this research.

Soaring child poverty in single parent families - ABC listen

ABC Radio’s Life Matters explored the impacts of poverty on children's lives and discussed what needs to be done to reverse this troubling trend. You can listen to the insightful conversation featuring:

• Alan Duncan, Director, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre

• Terese Edwards, CEO, Single Mother Families Australia

Home | Brotherhood of St. Laurence (bsl.org.au) Webinar on Why measuring poverty matters featured Prof. Sabina Alkire

Get Involved: Download Social Media Tiles for the End Child Poverty Campaign

Are you passionate about ending child poverty in Australia? Want to help spread the word and make a difference? We’ve got just the thing for you!

The Valuing Children Initiative has created a set of eye-catching social media tiles designed to amplify the message of our End Child Poverty Campaign. By sharing these tiles on your social media channels, you can help raise awareness and inspire others to join the cause.

📲 Download Your Social Media Tiles

Child Poverty in Australia 2024 report

The Child Poverty in Australia 2024 report by Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre released during Homelessness Week was commissioned by the Valuing Children Initiative for the End Child Poverty campaign.

Key findings

• Over 3.7 million people in Australia including nearly 823,000 children and 1.85 million households are living under a ‘standard’ (50 percent)

poverty line in 2022.

• This represents 14.5 per cent of our population.

• The poverty rate increased by nearly half a million people between 2021 and 2022, driven by rising living costs and housing stress. This includes an additional 102,000 children moving into poverty.

• An estimated 71,000 children in WA (nearly 1 in 9, or 11.8 per cent) live inpoverty in WA

• Rising interest rates and essential living costs and a tightening housing market since 2022 suggest these numbers will be higher still in 2024.

• Rental costs for the average family rose 11.2 percent between 2020 and 2022, while rental costs for lower income families rose faster still, at

17.8 per cent.

• This will put nearly 21,000 more children into poverty in WA, including13,600 more children in single parent families, and 7,000 in couple families.

• Single parent families and single person households are at the greatest risk of poverty.

• One in three single parent families (33.4 percent) are living below a 50 percent median poverty line, while over two in five (42.7 percent) are

living below a 60 percent median poverty line.

• Single parent families represent 14.7 percent of families, hence there are 367,000 children in single parent families living below a 50 percent

median poverty line.

• The proportion of children living in single parent households rose over 11 percent in the decade from 2013 to 2023.

• Couple households are at less risk of poverty, with one in six (16.3 percent) living below a 60 percent median poverty line and less than one in ten

(9.3 percent) living below a 50 percent median poverty line.

• There are three times as many children living in couple households, hence while their risk of poverty is lower, the actual number is higher

with 456,000 children in couple households living below a 50% poverty line.

Children in extreme poverty

• The risks of significant and severe poverty are also much higher for children in single parent households.

• 25,000 children live in severe poverty in WA (in families having to survive on less than $40 per day to cover all living costs once housing costs have

been covered).

• One in five children in single parent households are living in significant poverty (40 percent of median) and over one in ten living in severe poverty (30 percent of median)

• A quarter of single parent families live in poverty in WA, including nearly 1 in 10 (9.6 per cent) single parent families living in severe poverty.

• By comparison, only around one in twenty (5.4 percent) children in couple households are living in significant poverty and around one in forty (2.7 percent) are living in extreme poverty.

• However, because there are more couple households, this represents this represents approximately 213,000 children in couple

New Report Release: Hear Me Out

The Commissioner for Children and Young People is pleased to share the ‘Hear Me Out’ Report, the result of an important Inquiry into the implementation progress of the Model of Care Instruction for Banksia Hill Detention Centre. Alongside this, the ‘Hear Me Out – Young People’s Summary’ Report has also been released.

On 3 October 2023, the Commissioner launched a limited scope Inquiry under Section 19(f) of the Commissioner for Children and Young People Act 2006. Over the course of this Inquiry, the team engaged with 43 children and young people at Banksia Hill Detention Centre and Unit 18 at Casuarina Prison. Their voices and perspectives on the supports and services they receive while in detention, as well as what is working well and what is not, are central to this Report.

The Inquiry Report contains 16 critical Findings and Recommendations. While the scope was limited, the Report highlights the urgent need for broader youth justice reform in Western Australia.

🔗 Access the Reports:

• ‘Hear Me Out’ Report

• ‘Hear Me Out – Young People’s Summary’ Report

Your engagement and support are vital as we work towards meaningful change for the youth in our justice system.

Nearly everyone at the event signed the petition to end child poverty! The energy was contagious, and it was clear that people are ready to make a difference. Let's keep that momentum going—we still need more signatures to push for real change! We’re urging everyone who cares about the future of our children, and everyone who believes in justice to sign the petition. Together, we can turn the insights, challenges, and hopes shared at our event into real, tangible change.

Don’t let this moment pass. Add your voice to the growing call for action. Let’s make sure our government hears us loud and clear: it’s time to end child poverty in Australia.

Join the fight. Sign the petition today: www.endchildpoverty.com.au

Let’s turn the momentum from Homelessness Week 2024 into lasting change. Every signature count, and together, we can legislate an end to child poverty.

Listen to Adjunct Professor Tony Pietropiccolo AM’s interview on SBS Australia’s NITV Radio. He discussed the End Child Poverty campaign and the important Child Poverty in Australia 2024 report.

Interested in hosting your own webinar to support the campaign? Get in touch with us at VCI, and we'll provide the resources and guidance you need. Together, we can amplify our impact and push for legislative change to end child poverty in Australia. Reach out today!

Media Release: Cost of living crisis drives an increase in child poverty in Australia.

The End Child Poverty Campaign:

Objective: The campaign seeks to end child poverty in Australia by advocating for legislative changes that ensure no child lives in poverty.

Collaborations: Partnered with the many organisations to highlight the need for government action.

Support: Engages individuals and organisations to sign petitions and pledges.

Resources: We provide communication kits, petitions, and other tools to spread awareness.

Impact: Over 120 national and local organisations have joined, amplifying the campaign’s reach.

For more information, visit End Child Poverty.

Over 90,000 children in Western Australia live below the poverty line, with high housing costs being a significant factor. This alarming figure, highlighted by the Bankwest Curtin Economic Centre, represents over 15% of the state's children. The report underscores the urgent need for comprehensive policy solutions to address child poverty, emphasizing how housing affordability issues are driving families into financial hardship. The Valuing Children Initiative stresses that this is a wake-up call for national action.

For more details, visit The West Australian.

BREAKING New Child Poverty report!

Researchers warn that Australia’s poverty rate is expected to rise even further in 2024.

The Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre Child Poverty in Australia 2024 report has just been released.

The Child Poverty in Australia 2024 report by Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre released during Homelessness Week was commissioned by the Valuing Children Initiative for the End Child Poverty campaign.

Mission Australia has just released the Youth Survey Homelessness Report 2024: The Unfair Divide. Using data from nearly 20,000 responses, this report compares the experiences of young people who have experienced homelessness in the past year with those who have not.

Key findings include: 📢Close to 1 in 10 Youth Survey respondents experienced homelessness in the previous year.

📢Almost half experienced loneliness all or most of the time (47% compared to 18% with stable housing)​.

📢2 in 5 identified as having a mental health condition (41% compared to 13%)​.

📢Close to half found it hard to fit in and socialise with other people (46% compared to 26%).

📢Experience of strained or poor family relationships was seven times higher (34% compared ​ to 5%).​

📢2 in 5 sought financial help or could not afford essentials like food, housing, school or transport (42% compared ​to 10%).

You are invited to take part in this exclusive workshop on understanding the causes, systemic barriers, and community-wide solutions for children experiencing homelessness in WA.

The event is open to researchers, service providers, and individuals with lived experience to discuss the issue of children and homelessness.

Hear from campaigners and researchers and participate in a workshop to develop an advocacy report for the End Child Poverty Campaign and Shelter WA.

*Open only to experts or caseworkers with children experiencing homelessness in Perth, including those in OOHC, FDV, refuges, and both government and non-government organisations, researchers and lived experience. Places are limited to 2 per service to ensure diverse knowledge and experience*.

Catholic Social Services Australia (CSSA) recently signed up as a supporter of the new and vitally important End Child Poverty Campaign. This webinar addresses the issue of child poverty in Australia and introduces a powerful new campaign aimed at ending it. Find out how you can help end child poverty. To sign the petition to Legislate an End to Child Poverty in Australia or if you're an organisation and would like to make a pledge head to the End Child Poverty website.

Ministerial Statement: Tackling Child Poverty Delivery Plan - Annual Progress Report - 4 June 2024