Economic Inequality in Australia

Running head: ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN AUSTRALIA
ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN AUSTRALIA
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1ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN AUSTRALIA
Introduction
The problem of inequality of wealth distribution has been a major concern for various
sociologists and economists, something which had been revolutionized by Karl Marx through his
conception of the bourgeoisies exploiting the proletariats for the purpose of gaining access to the
profits or the surplus value. The issue of countering economic inequality must be approached in a
positive way as it tends to counter the deprivation of the poor and the dispossessed while at the
same time not being against wealth accumulation per se. Thus the issue of economic inequality
should be treated with utmost importance and must not be treated as a political issue being biased
against the ones with wealth. The opposition as such is not against the generation of personal
wealth but against the phenomenon of personal wealth by means of depriving or under
compensating others. In most capitalist societies it has been found that the capitalist class gathers
wealth at the cost of depriving others of their due share of economic remuneration and that
deprivation must be treated for a healthy economy to flourish.
In this particular essay the aim is to discuss the issue of the Rich getting richer and the
Poor getting poorer in the Australian context as a result of rising economic inequality, and
suggest methods of dealing with the issue to eradicate it.
Discussion of the chosen issue: Rich getting richer and the Poor getting poorer in
the Australian context as a result of rising economic inequality
According to the Inequality in Australia Report of 31 July, 2018, published by the
Australian Council of Social Service in collaboration with the University of South Wales the
income inequality has been increasing in the nation ever since the year 2000. They have provided

2ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN AUSTRALIA
the statistical report that the 20 percentage of the Australian population who form the echelon
having the maximum amount of wealth tend to be five times richer than the 20 percentage of the
Australian population who form the most economically underprivileged section (Google.com,
2018).
The 1percentage of the Australian population who can be characterized as the uber rich of
the nation are the owners of wealth which is twenty six times higher than the ones forming the
least economically privileged section of the society forming just 5 percentage of the Australian
population (Google.com, 2018).
The report suggests that such a huge inequality is harmful for the nation as it is not
suggestive of the national economy being in a good shape as the prime indicator of a healthy
economy is all sections of the society being able to achieve a decent standard of living. The issue
of economic inequality is all the more harmful as it tends to deprive a section of the society from
acquiring the necessary skills to contribute to the national economy and that shall over time
cause the national economy to falter. Hence there is a need for restructuring the economic
conditions in order to make it pro poor and at the same time it must also not be antithetical
towards accumulation of wealth privately (Google.com, 2018).
Proposal of methods of addressing the issue of the Rich getting richer and the Poor
getting poorer in the Australian context as a result of rising economic inequality
In this section of the essay the methods of combating economic inequality shall be
discussed. Australia being a statist society the role of the state is very much important with
regard to the bridging the gap between the rich and the poor.