The ALP has released a policy agenda for tackling inequality.
The document, Growing Together, was launched by the Shadow Minister for Families and Payments, Jenny Macklin.
Jenny Macklin releases the “Growing Together” policy
Macklin said inequality is at a 75-year high and 2.5 million Australians live below the poverty line, whilst hundreds of thousands are unemployed.
The Growing Together statement puts forward seven key pillars for tackling inequality: jobs, early childhood, life-long education, work-life balance, longevity, communities and modernising policy development and governance.
It argues that “the current social policy framework was built for, and belongs to, a different era”. The statement claims Growing Together “is an integral part of modern Labor’s policy renewal”.
“Growing Together offers new policy thinking and a new agenda – putting inclusive growth and social investment at the centre of Australia’s future. This agenda is based on a simple maxim: if you work hard, you will be rewarded. If you fall behind, you’ll be helped back onto your feet. In Australia, you are responsible for your own success, but you are never on your own.”
The policy document can be viewed below.
This is a graphic on poverty rates around the world, taken from the ALP’s Growing Together statement.
Statement by Jenny Macklin, ALP Shadow Minister for Families and Payments.
GROWING TOGETHER
LABOR’S AGENDA FOR TACKLING INEQUALITY
Growing Together tells the real story of life in Australia.
After a quarter-century of continuous economic growth, inequality is at a 75-year high.
2.5 million Australians live below the poverty line, and hundreds of thousands of Australians are unemployed.
For all the success Australians have achieved, the rewards are not as widely spread or as fairly shared as we like to imagine.
Too many Australians want work but cannot find it. Unemployment is unacceptably high in parts of the country, and for particular groups – young people, people with disability and Indigenous Australians.
Increasingly, underemployment, insecure work and low wages growth is making it harder for families to build stable lives.
Inequality is rising – undermining living standards, sustainable growth and social cohesion.
Perhaps for the first time in our history, we cannot be confident that the next generation of Australians will be better off than we are.
Understandably, many Australians are anxious about what the future holds – for their families and their country.
This is a national debate we need to have.
Growing Together offers new policy thinking and a new agenda – putting inclusive growth and social investment at the centre of Australia’s future.
With the latest evidence and contributions from some of the country’s leading policy thinkers, it provides a detailed assessment of Australian society today, and offers some ideas for change around seven key pillars:
- Putting Jobs First
- Investing in the Early Years
- Quality Education Across Life
- Balancing Work, Care and Family
- Supporting Longevity
- Building Stronger Communities
- Modernising Policy Development and Governance
Together, these represent a new agenda for tackling inequality in Australia.
