Over 40 percent of Australians now describe themselves as poor, marking a record-low sense of belonging in the nation.
About 12 percent say they sometimes go without food and 22 percent cannot afford medical care, according to a survey of 7,500 people by the Scanlon Foundation Research Institute.
Unaffordability saw social cohesion in Australia plummet to its lowest level in 16 years.
Australian National University Lead researcher James O'Donnell said it was unsurprising that feelings of worth and belonging decreased to their lowest point as financial struggles increased.
“People who are struggling financially are much less likely to feel a great sense of worth and belonging in Australia and much more likely to feel pessimistic about the future,” he said.
“With financial pressures heightened, the proportion of people who reported being satisfied with their finances dropped to 61 percent in 2023, down from 64 percent in 2022.”
Great Majority Believe Income Gap is Too Large
Economic inequalities also negatively impact people’s sense of social cohesion more broadly, Mr. O'Donnell said.
In Australia, someone in the highest 20 percent of the income scale lives in a household with almost six times as much income as someone in the lowest 20 percent of the income scale, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics.
“A record-high 84 percent of people believe the gap between those with high and low incomes is too large. This is up from 76 percent in July 2020,” Mr. O'Donnell said.
“With more people worried about economic inequality, we’re less trusting of government, more worried about the future and less connected to Australian values and society.”
He said the worry made people increasingly question the government’s ability to help them.
About one in three people (30 percent) believe government leaders abuse their powers “most” or “all of the time,” and 84 percent think it happens at least “some of the time.”
Therefore, he said the government should consider policies and programs for everyone to have affordable living costs.
A woman pays a fruit vendor in a market in Melbourne, Australia, on July 23, 2013. Scott Barbour/Getty Images
Cost-Of-living Relief
Prime Minister Anthony Albanese says cost-of-living is now be his government’s top priority.In a keynote address to the Economic and Social Outlook Conference in Melbourne on Nov. 2, Mr. Albanese touched on a number of his short-term aspirations for the economy.
“Our government understands the cost-of-living is the number one pressure on Australian families,” the prime minister said.Specifically, 66 percent of single-parent families are just getting by. They bear the brunt of the pressure, along with young people living alone.
Further, 40 percent of this group felt rent or mortgage stress, skipped meals, and went without medicine.
Over half of them (63 percent) also felt socially isolated.
Did Global and Local Conflict Cause Low Social Cohesion?
Despite these challenges, Mr. O'Donnell argued Australians still find social cohesion in ethnic and cultural diversity.“Aussies continue to hold high and growing support for multiculturalism and diversity and remain connected in their local neighbourhoods,” he said.
“In 2023, 89 percent of Australians agree that multiculturalism has been good for Australia.”
However, Chair of the Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia Carlo Carli disagreed, arguing that multiculturalism worsened social cohesion.
“I think at the moment we’ve got a number of stresses on our social cohesion. We’ve had a very difficult debate around the referendum on the voice to Parliament,” he told SBS podcasts.
“And finally, we have the conflict in the Middle East, which is also creating difficulties.”
An Israeli army M109 155mm self-propelled howitzer fires rounds near the border with Gaza in southern Israel on October 11, 2023. JACK GUEZ/AFP via Getty Images
He refers to the Israeli government formally declaring war against the terrorist group Hamas following a deadly coordinated strike against Israeli civilians on Oct. 7 that resulted in 1,400 deaths, according to Israeli forces.
Anti-Defamation Commission Chair Dvir Abramovich said the rate of anti-Semitism heightened since the start of the war.
Police have recorded an increased number of anti-Muslim and anti-Semitic incidents that have occurred within the community recently.
In one instance, pro-Palestinians chanted anti-Semitic messages on the steps of the iconic Sydney Opera House at a rally on Oct. 9.
In the wake of the conflict, Chief Executive of Multicultural Australia Christine Castley believes the country needs to build on resilience to increase social cohesion.
“So, what we really need to do as a country I think is ... work on those strengths that we all need to have in terms of being able to reach out, connect, communicate with each other,” she said.
“Learn how to straddle differences and learn how to come together with our different histories and stories and experiences. There’s a real piece here for us, and an opportunity for us to create true belonging in Australia.”
