This week, Uniting Vic.Tas provided a submission to the Senate Inquiry into the extent and nature of poverty in Australia. The depth and breadth of our service experience at Uniting means we see the many structural drivers of poverty that impact on people’s wellbeing, in every program we deliver. We also recognise that systemic racism, sexism, and homophobia mean Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, women, and people of diverse genders and sexualities experience poverty in differing ways.
Our submission, informed by the experiences of our consumers, argued that Government policies and systems that are supposed to provide a ‘safety net’ are instead keeping people trapped in poverty, and further pushing them to a crisis state. Our recommendations stress that without widespread and fundamental system change, the cycle of intergenerational poverty will continue.
Read our full submission to the Senate.
