Professor Alan Duncan addresses WACOSS community conference

BCEC Director Professor Alan Duncan recently addressed the Western Australian Council of Social Service (WACOSS) Community Relief and Resilience Conference.

Held on 26 July 2017, the conference centred on the theme of child poverty, 30 years after then Prime Minister Bob Hawke’s declaration that “by 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty”.

Professor Duncan presented a scorecard of Australia’s progress following the declaration, sharing updated findings from BCEC research including the Centre’s Focus on the States report Falling Through the Cracks: Poverty and disadvantage in Australia.

Professor Duncan concluded Australia still had a long way to go to meet Prime Minister Hawke’s aspiration.

“750,000 Australian children live in poverty, and close to a third of these children live in severe poverty,” Professor Duncan said.

“Poverty can be a persistent state, and one that has a demonstrably adverse impact on people’s health and wellbeing.”

“There is a pressing need for integrated programs to break the inertia, including adequate welfare payments to protect citizens from falling into poverty in the first place.”

Professor Duncan’s presentation is available to view online within our Publications.

Other presenters at the event included Hon. Simone McGurk MLA, Minister for Child Protection; Women’s Interests; Prevention of Family and Domestic Violence; Community Services, and Mary Delahunty, General Manager – Business Development & Policy at Hesta.