Introduction

In the past few decades, the poverty level among Australian citizens has gone down
significantly. However, the families or groups who were below the poverty line those
years ago have not changed, and they still face the same problem as they did
previously. Although poverty is associated with low-income countries, millions of
Australian also live under poverty, although the situation is not as severe. Most
Australian live in relative poverty, where their household income is not sufficient to
handle their expenses. Families or individuals living in poverty have a low level of
income or are unemployed living with the help of welfare payments. They do not have
the same opportunities for quality education, adequate health care facilities,
employment opportunities, etc. Mostly elders, children, indigenous people, and
minorities are likely to be poor as they have fewer chances to find employment
opportunities due to social constraints.
Poverty is not only a lack of sufficient income to run the expenses, but it also includes
people not able to afford the things they want to buy. They have to live with bare
necessities, and they have to skip a meal or two to afford quality education for their
children. Many individuals could not go for regular dental and health checkup that leads
to several health complications which in turn increase their expenses in the future and
make them poorer than before. Poor people are less likely to make friends with upper-
class individuals, which shrink their chance of social development. Another
consequence of being poor is that the poor people, in average live shorter life than
people having access to sufficient facilities. As figures show, Indigenous people live a
shorter life than other majority of populations in Australia.
The education of children living in poverty is severely affected as they have less access
to quality education, and most cannot complete school education in order to support
their families. They do not have the same tools like internet, computers for learn as
other children in the class as they fall behind in learning. Such children have less
nutrition in their food, and it hampers their growth and development. Poor kids cannot
concentrate on their studies as they are fatigued due to poor diet and less nutrition.
Their cognitive ability significantly decreases, and they cannot solve simple problems
that other children in the class easily can.
As the per capita income and GDP of the country are rising significantly, the gap
between the poor and the rich is getting wider. Poverty limits the growth of the
individuals, and they are unable to break the class gap. As poor people are even unable
to afford their basic requirements, they cannot earn extra income to break off the class
gap. As people in power only look and work for their class people, it is hard to bring the
change as all the reforms in the country is only done towards the already vibrant
community. The disempowerment is also visible in the country as the people in the
position of power denies the rights and recourses to the people who need it the most.
So, disempowerment is also one of the reasons for the for rising class gap in Australia.
Australia need changes in the highest level in order to eradicate poverty and need to
make major reforms to close the class gap. Adequate health and education facilities
should be provided for free to everyone living in poverty with other basic facilities to help
them grow and develop. Concerned individuals can write a mail every now and then to
political parties and pressurize them to make impactful reforms.
Leading causes for the rise in relative poverty may be the rise in long term
unemployment, and the recent pandemic of coronavirus will now hamper the job market
even further. As the unemployment level is rising recently, it can be predicted that the
poverty level will also increase with it. The rise in the number of single parents also
causes the children to grow in poverty as it is tough for single parents to bear all the
expenses of the family single-handily. Low wages or underemployment also cause
poverty as the wages can only handle the basic requirements as they cannot afford
other needs like quality education and adequate health facilities. With a low salary,
individuals cannot afford god or decent things in life. Increase in the housing cost in the
urban areas cause such low-income family to outside the main city area, so they have
to commute long distance to the job. Long commute wastes the time and money which
could have been used otherwise. 
Many individuals are concerned with the rise in relative poverty in Australia who work to
help the people in need in a regular basis. They provide clothes, food and also shelter
facilities for the people in need. Many volunteers work selflessly to help the needy and
provide them with basic needs. Different organizations perform their corporate social
responsibility to help non-profit organizations to solve this dire problem in Australia.
Churches as well as school, colleges can support the cause with the necessary funds
and volunteers to eradicate the problem. People with high level of earning can help and
support certain individuals or families regularly in order to break the gap. They can
teach low-income families how to manage money and saving techniques and also help
financially to pay off some debts.
Conclusion
There are many welfare organizations to solve the problem of poverty and also several
government policies and plans but seems it is not enough to eradicate the problem. It is
time to look at the results of such programs and analyze properly where the root of the
problem is and how can it be solved. I think some major reforms should be made in the
education and health sector as quality education helps to develop an individual, and
they can learn key skills to be relevant in the job market. The qualified person has it
easier as it can get them job and get up the social ladder. So, to solve the ever-growing
poverty in Australia, Everyone including organizations, everyday individuals, politicians
and governments must join hands to eradicate the problem .