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How adequate are Australian social security benefits? A geographical assessment
Paul Henman
University of Macquarie
Contact Email: Paul.Henman
mq.edu.au
An assessment of the adequacy of social security benefits is essential for policy development and for analysing the effectiveness of Australia’s welfare regime. However, the widely-used Henderson Poverty Line has been subject to much criticism and its relation to contemporary living standards is opaque. The half-median income measure is an alternative. But, it too says more about relative living standards than what people can achieve. In recent years there has been a re-emergence throughout the world of budget standard based approaches to measuring living standards. Australia’s major contribution has been the Social Policy Research Centre’s development of indicative budget standards for over 40 household types. Although initially constrained to Sydney, their extension to other capital cities provides an important new tool for measuring living standards in Australia. This paper uses these extended and updated budget standards to assess the extent to which social security benefits enable a range of low-income households to achieve a low cost standard of living. It will give attention to variations in outcomes between different capital cities and between household types. The implications for income support policy, including making it geographically sensitive, are then explored.
Paper
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Paper63.ppt
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Copyright © 2003 Social Policy Research Centre.
