ASAP Oceania, a new ASAP chapter, recently asked a number of leading academics to analyse the poverty implications of some of the policies of the three major parties in Australia (the Labor Party, the Liberal-National Coalition, and the Greens). It is federal election year in Australia, and the idea was to draw on the expertise of local academics to produce material for public release that will ensure that the question of poverty is given prominence in public debates in the lead up to the election.
Now the election date has been announced (September 7) and the report has been released. It contains 12 short, readable pieces that analyse how the three major parties\’ policies are likely to impact poverty in key policy areas such as education, housing, indigenous policy, refugee and asylum seeker policy, and foreign aid.
Our aim is that the report will stimulate discussion about the poverty implications of the policies of the parties that are seeking the votes of Australians. We hope that it will be followed by more pieces by more scholars who wish to add their analyses. Most importantly, we hope that Australians and our neighbours take account of these pieces and insist that the question of poverty in Australia and the world be moved from the remote periphery to the centre of our debates.