Income+and+Education+Inequality

= Australia: Income and Education Inequality = By: Jarelle Parker Student Number: n8928614 Tutor: Michelle Cornford


 * __Artifact: __**



-My artefact is a precarious image of previous Republican presidents and conservative politicians from the United States (similar values to the current Coalition government) who are casually enjoying a glass of wine while laughing hysterically over a humorous joke. The setting of my artefact is in the White House because only U.S presidents are allowed inside. The caption for my image states "Reaganomics" (former Republican Pres. Ronald Reagan on the far left). The sub-caption states "we told them the wealth with trickle-down."

**The Public Health Issue**: The public health issue in my artifact involves the unequal distribution of individual income, household income and education in Australia. The term “Reaganomics” is rooted from former United States President Ronald Regan’s trickle-down economics policy. The philosophy of this economic policy from the 1980s is currently being implemented and is shaping Australia’s economic policies, especially with the new collation government on and income redistribution. Currently now, “the wealthiest 20 precent of Australians own 61% of the nation’s wealth; the poorest 20% own just 1%” (Lawrence, 2012). This Wiki will identify the public health issue of the unequal distribution of individual income, household income and education in Australia. The fact of the matter is the “wealth” was never intended to “trickle down.”

**Literature Review**: **Individual Income** One of the most important determinants of an individual's well-being in a modern society is individual annual income. This is highly important due to the fact that income dictates what kind of quality health services one can afford, access to affordable housing, affordable child or aged care, education and transportation. On the bright side, annual individual income for Australians has increased in the past decade, but the increase has not been fair across the board. A recent report by the Australian Government Productivity Commission has concluded that "average real labour incomes have grown substantially from around $800 per week in 1988-89, to around $1100 per week in 2009-10 in 2011-12 dollar terms, a 38 precent increase” (Greenville, Pobke & Rogers, 2013, pg. 32). Although the increase seems great for middle to low income earners the fact is income growth has increased at a much faster rate for a higher income earners. The report also explains that "these changes have been associated with increases in measures labour income inequality, such as the Gini coefficient, which has increased from 0.35 in 1988-89 to 0.41 in 2009-10 among employed people” (Greenville, Pobke & Rogers, 2013, pg. 32). The Gini coefficient is based on equivalised household disposable income, after taxes and transfers. “The Gini coefficient is defined as the area between the Lorenz curve, which plots cumulative shares of the population, from the poorest to the riches (Wealth and income, 2013, pg. 212). Figure1 below shows the unequal distribution of individual labour income since 1988 in Australia.



//Figure 1: // (Greenville, Pobke & Rogers, 2013, pg. 7).

**Household Income**: Since 1994-2003, official Australian Bureau of Statistics data indicates that low income families saw their weekly incomes rise only 12 precent, while middle incomes rose 14 precent and high incomes rose over 16 precent The low income earning people who are socioeconomically disadvantaged continue to experience economic inequality that is subpar to people of high socioeconomic status. Let’s take a look at more recent data on household incomes. 2013 ABS data show that the average household income for low income households was $475 weekly, middle income households earned $793 weekly and high income households earned $1810 weekly (abs.gov.au, 2013). Figure 2 below provides a visual of inequality between rich and poor family household incomes.



// Figure 2: //(Wealth and income, 2013, pg. 208)

Crunching the numbers into annual household income the numbers exposes the inequality between the rich and the poor. Low income households only make $22,800 a year, middle households make $38,064 a year and high income households earn $87,072 a year. The poor in Australia make four times less than the rich, and the middle class is not too far ahead from the poor either. The playing field is not evened out when taxes are brought into the conversation. John Wicks, author of The Reality of Income Inequality in Australia wrote in 2005 that “over 8 million Australian (42% of the population) have an equivalised disposable income of less than $21,000 per annum. Of these 8 million Australians, 4.5 million of them (23% of the population) are in households with an aggregate income of less than $400 per week” (Wicks, 2005). It does not seem that much has changed since 2005 statistically for the poor. The sad truth is the rich are getting richer and the poor are getting poorer, and this is true around the world in westernized developing nations, not just Australia.

Click on --> [|Why "Reaganomics" is unfair]

‘The contrast between rich and poor, which seems so peculiar a phase of modern civilisation, finds no parallel in these Southern lands.” -Sir Timothy Coghlan, Government Statistician of Australia, 1886.

**Education inequality**: One of the most important values to a modern society is giving their people a “good” education. It is advertised in mainstream Australian media that children from all races, colours and cultures receive a "fair go" in Australia, especially when it comes to education. Recent data from the Organization of Economic Cooperation and Development, or OECD states that many public, independent and private schools in Australia are divided based on colour, socioeconomic status, wealth and access to resources with indigenous children and families showing the worst statistics. OECD clearly shows educations systems that combine equity with quality for all students have higher educational production from their students regardless of wealth, income, colour or amount of possessions. (OECD, 2012, pg. 4).

  //Figure 3//: (OECD, 2012, pg. 12)

This is something that the Australian government fails to do the unequal distribution of funding to government, independent and catholic schools. On average government schools receive the net income (from all sources) of around $11,100 per student, Catholic schools $10,000 and independent schools $13,700" (Bonnor, 2011). Catholic schools receive a fair amount of funding from the Australian government but most of its revenue come from privatize resources, usually donations. The problem occurs when independent and Catholic schools outperform public government schools and parents have the option to pick and choose which school they want their child to attend. This creates education inequality because families that can afford to pay the fees of the Catholic and independent schools send their children to opportunity and resource rich institutions. This leaves students from low socioeconomic families disadvantage because their family cannot afford to send their children to higher preforming schools and as a result, this widens the gaps between social and academic class in Australia. The rich continue to send their children to the best educational institutions of their “choice” while the poor roll the dice, and send their children to the school that is most convenient to them and “hope” for the best (Bonnor, 2011).

This is what are researchers saying about the issue (past to present). Australia is a country in the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), and in terms of education inequality, the gap between students participating in higher education from high to low socioeconomic backgrounds has increased since 1989. Chesters & Watson (2013) emphasizes that, “the proportion of people from the bottom socioeconomic quartile who participate in higher education has hovered between 14 and 15% since 1989. This is a major area of concern do to the fact that students from lower socioeconomic backgrounds can experience low educational aspirations, lower levels of educational attainment and a lack of awareness of the possibilities and benefits of tertiary education. (Chesters & Watson, 2013 pg. 199).

**CULTURAL AND SOCIAL ANALYSIS**: When applying social theory to this health issue society and different cultures first have to understand the two perspectives of the issue to enable them to see things from a different “lens” to fully understand the problem. For example, when addressing the problem of income inequality society first needs to acknowledge that there is a problem and then implement the necessary action to help change the culture of the issue. A few ways society can help redress income inequality are by removing product market regulations that stifle competition, establishing more union based employment that help protect worker rights and wages, well-designed labour market policies and institutions and legislative policies that increase graduation rates from upper secondary and tertiary education (OECD, 2012, pg. 182-183).

The class of people that are considerably affected by these issues are the Indigenous people of Australia. In reference to education levels, the gap between Indigenous people and non- Indigenous Australians has in quite shocking. Ford (2013) states that “the review of indigenous education in 1998 showed a 51 percentage point difference between indigenous and non-indigenous students for reading at Year 3 in the MAP tests, with 82% of non-indigenous students achieving the national benchmark and only 31% indigenous students doing the same” (Ford, 2012, pg. 88). People are not affected by these problems equality, especially Indigenous people who been getting the short end of the stick since 1788. It should be discussed because Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people make up only seven precent of the Australian population but experience the most pain hardships in this country than other other ethnic group.

Public health experts should focus on federal policies that help reduce these inequalities. The problem is the many of these policies are short term fixes like “Closing the Gap,” (4.6 billion dollars Indigenous reform policy) and if they do not produce instant results many of the programs are cut or receive less federal funding (Ford, 2012, pg. 81).

Click on --> [|Income inequality in the United States]

This Shocks Me!

**ANALYSIS OF THE ARTEFACT AND REFLECTIONS**: My artifact represents the misleading but well-advertised principles of trickle down economics. Reaganomics is labeled as the name of the economics policy that was used to help pull the United States out of a recession in the 1980s, but the philosophy of this policy is still being implemented in many modern westernized societies today, including Australia. My artifact is a good “case in point” due to the fact that trickle down diplomacy is and has not done what it was set out to do when many of us were told “the wealth will trickle down.” The data I have provided in regards to individual and household income proves that low and middle income earners are not receiving their share of earned revenue. In regards to education, knowledge is power, wealth is power and therefore, knowledge is wealth. Makes sense right? In Australia, idea of equal and fair education is slowly becoming accessible only to those who can afford it, with more government funding going to independent schools, and catholic schools receiving private donations. The wealth is not “trickling down.”

This assignment has shown me that Australia experiencing some of the same inequality that is plaguing my home country, the United States. Being a U.S citizen and now currently studying abroad here in Australia, I see that this country in exponentially more equal in terms of living wages than the U.S. The fairness and equality is here but through my research I’ve seen that it is become less and less equal by the day and the dollar, especially with the new Coalition government I place, which favors trickle down economics. This assessment has made me more aware of the inequalities in my home county and has given me the erg to become a political activist when I go back to my home country to fight for fairness and equality.

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__Reference List: __

Atkinson, A., & Leigh, A. (2007). The distribution of top incomes in australia. The Economic Record, 83(262), 247-248. Retrieved from []

Bonnor, C. (2011). My school, pisa and australia’s equity gap. (1), Retrieved from []

Chesters, J., & Watson , L. (2013). Understanding the persistence of inequality in higher education: evidence from australia. Journal of Education Policy, 28, 198-215. Retrieved from []

Ford, M. (2012). Achievement gaps in australia: what naplan reveals about education inequality in australia. Race Ethnicity and Education, 16, 80-102. Retrieved from []

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Greenville, J., Pobke, P., & Rogers, N. (2013). Trends in the distribution of income in Australia. Productivity Commission Staff Working Paper, Canberra. Retrieved from <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Household incomes recovering after global financial crisis. (2013). Retrieved from [|http://www.abs.gov.au/AUSSTATS\abs@.nsf/mediareleasesbyCatalogue/1C05E1782115D933CA25732A0021E90E?Opendocument]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Lawrence, C. (2012). Mind the gap: Why the rising inequality of our school is dangerous. The Monthly, 1, Retrieved from <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">OECD (2012), Equity and quality in education: supporting disadvantaged students and schools, OECD Publishing. <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">OECD. (2012). Reducing income inequality while boosting economic growth: Can it be done?. Economic Policy Reforms 2012 Going for Growth, Retrieved from <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">Wicks, J. (2005). The reality of income inequality australia. (1), Retrieved []

//<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">(2013). //Wealth and income//. National Sustainability Council, Retrieved from <span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]

<span style="font-family: 'Times New Roman','serif'; font-size: 16px;">[]