Church groups unite in call for poverty inquiry

The
Catholic Weekly
Online

Sydney
18 April 2004

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heading1Church groups unite in call for poverty inquiry

By ERIN TENNANT

Catholic welfare groups are continuing to press the Federal Government and Opposition to fight poverty in the wake of inaction over a Senate inquiry into the issue.

This includes a call by the St Vincent de Paul Society for a national summit to develop an anti-poverty strategy.

The Catholic groups, which have now been joined by the Anglican Church welfare body Anglicare Australia, argue that Australians facing the emergence of a permanent underclass, with access to healthcare, education and work opportunities expected to remain out of reach for a generation of children growing up in jobless households.

The president of the St Vincent de Paul Society’s national social justice committee, Terry McCarthy, points to the Senate’s finding that 700,000 children now live in households where neither parent works.

“If you grow up on the bottom of the heap, you’re more likely to have a serious illness and die younger than the rest of the population, you’ll have greater difficulty getting accepted into a tertiary institution and you just won’t have the qualifications to get a job,” Mr McCarthy told The Catholic Weekly. “Politicians need to address this inequality of opportunity.”

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