St Vincent de Paul Society Liverpool Outlet Opening
| About this Item |
Subjects | Charities; Catholic Church |
Speakers | Lynch Mr Paul |
Business | Private Members Statements |
Page: 9668
Mr PAUL LYNCH (Liverpool) [11.50 a.m.]: I draw to the attention of the House an event that was held in Liverpool on Sunday 16 May. It involved the opening and official blessing of the new Liverpool retail outlet of the St Vincent de Paul Society, operated by its Liverpool regional council in Macquarie Street. The blessing and opening were performed by Bishop Julian Porteous. Also present was Father Robert Fuller from Liverpool Parish. Peter Thelander, regional president, and Paul Brien also addressed the opening. It struck me as fairly melancholy that at this stage of human development charitable institutions are still necessary and that our society still generates such substantial and obvious poverty. I am acutely aware of the work performed by Vinnies through the experiences of my electorate office. There seems to be an increasing need for such organisations.
Two things seem to have happened. While those doing well in our society are increasingly doing very well, those that are not doing well are doing worse. The disparities in the distribution of wealth and incomes are increasing. As well, the doctrines and philosophies known as neo-liberalism and economic rationalism have gained much support, and this reduces the role of government, placing greater stress upon organisations such as Vinnies. Of course, these are perspectives very familiar to the St Vincent de Paul Society. As its social justice national web site says:
We are called, as Vincentians, to feed, clothe, house and assist our brothers and sisters who are forced onto the margins of society.
We are also called to ask why they are left out and pushed out?
Of course, this does not always mean that everyone is relaxed about Vinnies. Several years ago Vinnies made what I thought was a valuable and impressive submission to the Senate inquiry into poverty in Australia. Of course, the society was condemned by all the usual right-wing ideologues and tabloid ranters posing as journalists and accused of all sorts of heinous crimes. I was reminded of the words of Brazilian Bishop Helder Camara, who said:
When I give bread to the poor, they call me a saint; but when I ask why people are poor, they call me a communist.
No doubt some conservative people in Australia still regard Bishop Camara as a communist. I, for one, hope that St Vincent de Paul continues to not only help the poor in the practical sense it does in Liverpool, but, more importantly, to question why people are poor and argue for policy and political positions to change this. The Vinnies submission to the inquiry into poverty in Australia highlighted that 20 years of economic growth and 10 years of an economic boom in Australia had not provided prosperity for everyone. In fact, the gap between rich and poor is growing. Over the past 30 years in Australia the bottom half of society has been receiving less of total income while the top half receives more. Poverty is experienced as both inadequate income and unaffordable costs for the essentials of life. Low incomes and rising prices are trapping the poor. As St Vinnies notes:
Australia does have a safety net which has proven to reduce the levels of poverty. The social security system, however, does not cater to the wide variety of circumstances faced by Australians in an increasingly insecure labour market. Neither is it adequate in its level of income support.
Vinnies also notes the quite callous exercise of breaching recipients of welfare, allowing governments an excuse to withdraw from their obligation to provide welfare support. It is particularly absurd in a society in which there are simply not enough full-time jobs to go around. The figures on the distribution of wealth are quite concerning:
The wealthiest 20% of Australian adults hold 62% of the total wealth while the poorest 20% hold only 1%. It is estimated that in 2030 the top 20% will have 70% of wealth and the bottom 50% about 4.9%.
Vinnies has not left these issues with the Senate inquiry. I have noticed media comments from Vinnies in the past several months on these topics, most recently in the recent Federal budget. The society's spokesman on social justice, Terry McCarthy, described tax cuts in the budget as weapons of mass destruction for society, because they destroyed the prospect of a fair society. Australia is the fourth-lowest taxing country among OECD developed nations. It also has the fourth-highest level of poverty among these nations. The Vinnies alternative is a national strategy to combat poverty, similar to European models. Mr McCarthy was quoted as saying
Tax cuts would give further benefits to the top 20% of the population who already owned two-thirds of all Australian's wealth, while those at the bottom paid the price of having fewer services.
These perspectives are primarily driven by Vinnies' practical experience of seeing daily the poor who cannot put food on the table, who lose the roof over their heads, who watch children suffer unnecessary illnesses, who have a casual job that does not even pay for school shoes, who realise their children will be highly unlikely to escape the cycle of poverty, and who face their children empty-handed on birthdays and at Christmas. The appropriate note to finish on is a quote from Franz Fanon, cited in the Vinnies Senate submission. He said:
What counts today, the question which is looming on the horizon, is the need for a redistribution of wealth. Humanity must reply to this question, or be shaken to pieces by it.