The 13th biennial report into Australia’s welfare by the Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has been released. Among other findings, the report shows that that Indigenous children are 10 times as likely to be in out-of-home care as non-Indigenous children, and that children under 15 years in single-parent families are more than 3 times as likely to be in relative income poverty as those in two-parent families (41 per cent compared with 13 per cent). As an indicator of persistent disadvantage, the rate of relative poverty (measured as less than 50 per cent of the national median household income) remains consistent, in contrast to absolute poverty reductions and almost three decades of consecutive economic growth. The report also shows that females are consistently more likely to live in households below the poverty line than males, and that one in 6 Australian women have experienced physical or sexual violence from a current or former cohabiting partner since the age of 15 years, with those experiencing family and domestic violence representing the single largest client group accessing homelessness support services. The report also shows that the size of the welfare workforce is rising to support a growing and ageing population, increasing by 84 per cent since 2005. Read the report.
