Post by Tamrin on Apr 26, 2009 19:30:57 GMT 10
One in seven Australian kids
living in poverty: UN report
[Excerpt - Article by Karen Percy, ABC's PM Program, Radio National - 2 March 2005 - Linked Above]
living in poverty: UN report
[Excerpt - Article by Karen Percy, ABC's PM Program, Radio National - 2 March 2005 - Linked Above]
MARK COLVIN: A new report from the United Nations says that close to one in seven Australian children living in poverty.
It's better than a decade ago, but it's still disturbingly high. And it's a trend that is being seen in many wealthy countries.
Karen Percy's report begins with a prime ministerial promise.
BOB HAWKE: By 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty.
TONY BLAIR: To put middle-class aspirations in the hands of working-class families and their children …
GEORGE BUSH: The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing schools, and hidden prejudice, and the circumstances of their birth.
KAREN PERCY: Across decades, across continents, across political spectrums, leaders of rich, Western nations have tried to address the issue of children and poverty.
And progress is being made, according to a report card from the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund.
Its latest study of childhood poverty in rich countries, undertaken by the Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, compares conditions in 26 of the OECD nations.
Child poverty is lowest in Denmark, where one in 40 children are poor. At the other end of the spectrum is the United States, where poverty affects 22 per cent, or one in five children.
Still, the United States, as well as Britain, Norway, and Australia, are among the only countries to have seen improvement since the early 1990s.
In that time in Australia, child poverty has fallen by 1.7 per cent.
But the report says one in seven children in Australia, or 14.7 per cent, are living with families earning less than $26,000 dollars a year.
It's better than a decade ago, but it's still disturbingly high. And it's a trend that is being seen in many wealthy countries.
Karen Percy's report begins with a prime ministerial promise.
BOB HAWKE: By 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty.
TONY BLAIR: To put middle-class aspirations in the hands of working-class families and their children …
GEORGE BUSH: The ambitions of some Americans are limited by failing schools, and hidden prejudice, and the circumstances of their birth.
KAREN PERCY: Across decades, across continents, across political spectrums, leaders of rich, Western nations have tried to address the issue of children and poverty.
And progress is being made, according to a report card from the United Nations Children's Emergency Fund.
Its latest study of childhood poverty in rich countries, undertaken by the Innocenti Research Centre in Florence, compares conditions in 26 of the OECD nations.
Child poverty is lowest in Denmark, where one in 40 children are poor. At the other end of the spectrum is the United States, where poverty affects 22 per cent, or one in five children.
Still, the United States, as well as Britain, Norway, and Australia, are among the only countries to have seen improvement since the early 1990s.
In that time in Australia, child poverty has fallen by 1.7 per cent.
But the report says one in seven children in Australia, or 14.7 per cent, are living with families earning less than $26,000 dollars a year.