Firstly, it is clear that a lot of people are doing it tough. Rents are rising, so are interest rates, and Melbourne’s housing remains amongst the least affordable in the world. There are lots of people who do work hard, pay their mortgages and ‘do the right thing’ but who are still barely keeping their head above water.
Unfortunately their anger is misdirected against those with even less, but it would be wrong to dismiss them. Our affordable housing crisis is touching more and more people as it deepens. This is a legitimate cause for anger.
On top of this, there remains a great deal of distrust, anger and what appears to be misplaced jealousy towards recipients of social services. This is despite consistently high levels of generosity towards victims of fires, floods and other natural disasters.
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Perhaps we are still stuck in the old thinking of the worthy and unworthy poor?
In this frame of thinking a natural disaster victim is ‘like us’ and government support for them is an acknowledgement that the position of victim and supporter is a result of pure luck and the situations could be easily reversed.
When it comes to people who are homeless or in public housing, there is a judgment being made that the person needing help is a victim of their own making. They are at fault due to personal flaws, criminal tendencies or bad decisions. In other words, they got what they deserve.
There is no acknowledgement that the causes of homelessness or housing crisis are often uncontrollable events such as a violent partner, family breakdown, unemployment, poor health or even rising interest rates.
Nor is there any empathy with people born into extreme poverty or who, in many cases, are suffering the effects of structural disadvantage compounded over many generations.
Are these things any less a ‘natural disaster’ than a flood or fire? Are these victims any more to blame for their situations?
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If this is the filter through which the public views disadvantage in Australia then positive change is doomed to advance slowly. Governments, communities and social services themselves must become more active participants in social policy debates and advocates who can educate ignorance, challenge misperceptions and nurture greater empathy through understanding.
Confronting and dispelling the myth of the undeserving poor is a battle that needs to be won.
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