Senate report finds Australia's number of poor is growing

[dArKeR]

AFP , SYDNEY
Friday, Mar 12, 2004,Page 5

A Senate report warned yesterday that the gap between Australia's rich and poor was growing dramatically, but the government has branded the study an opposition-led attempt to embarrass it in the run-up to national elections.

The bi-partisan Senate committee said that nearly 20 percent of Australians were living in poverty and too many of the country's 20 million citizens were missing out on benefits being delivered by one of the world's most buoyant economies.

It recommended sweeping changes to the government's strategy for tackling the problem, including redefining what constitutes poverty and establishing a federal agency which would report directly to Prime Minister John Howard.

http://www.taipeitimes.com/News/world/archives/2004/03/12/2003102135