Australian Poverty

The most important effort to measure poverty in post-war Australia was the 1975 Royal Commission on Poverty, chaired by Professor Ronald Henderson, CMG AO, of the University of Melbourne. Twenty-two years later, the authors of Australian Poverty: Then and Now provide a telling comparison between the findings of Henderson's Commission and the present day. The theme of the chapters in the book rests mainly on a description of Henderson's findings and recommendations in 1975, and the changes, achievements, failings and general comparative conditions today. The volume explains the task of assessing the level of poverty in a country which remains lucky for some but not for others.