THE figures paint a grim picture, one we can’t be proud of and one for which our politicians past and present should bear a significant measure of responsibility.
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It is unacceptable that 21 per cent of children in the Shoalhaven live in poverty, along with 17 per cent of the overall population. Stacked up against the neighbouring Illawarra, the numbers look even worse. In Wollongong, for instance, 14 per cent of children live in poverty, along with 13.6 per cent of the overall population. In national terms, we are even worse off.
The numbers, however, don’t tell the full story. The social and health impacts are even more unsettling. Living in poverty affects one’s finances and physical, mental and emotional health. It severely limits the ability to participate in community life. That, in turn, fuels social problems like crime, antisocial behaviour, drug and alcohol dependency and domestic violence.
If we are to forge any sort of future for the city we call home we must do our utmost to address these shocking figures. Of fundamental importance is job creation. No amount of training, punitive welfare arrangements, work for the dole schemes and suchlike will do any good if there is no scope for people to find work.
Unemployment and poverty is entrenched in the Shoalhaven and we are all suffering from the associated social ills. The people we elect to government at local, state and federal levels all need to do much more to turn these dreadful figures around. To not do so condemns us to a very grim future.
