Economic Inequality in Australia: Analysis, Causes, and Solutions

This essay delves into the critical issue of economic inequality in Australia, examining the widening gap between the wealthy and the underprivileged. It begins by outlining the historical context of wealth distribution, referencing Karl Marx's theories on the exploitation of the proletariat. The essay then presents statistical data from the Australian Council of Social Service, highlighting the disparity in wealth between the richest and poorest segments of the population. It argues that such inequality poses a threat to the nation's economic health and overall societal well-being. The core of the essay focuses on potential solutions, emphasizing the role of the Australian government in addressing the issue. It suggests increasing the minimum wage, strengthening the role of the Ombudsman to ensure fair labor practices, implementing progressive income taxation to fund social welfare programs, and boosting investment in education to empower the less fortunate. The essay concludes by reiterating the challenges and the need for proactive measures to create a more equitable economic landscape in Australia.

Running head: ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN AUSTRALIA
ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN AUSTRALIA
Name of the Student
Name of the University
Author Note

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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

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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.

3ECONOMIC INEQUALITY IN AUSTRALIA
Australia has social security schemes that deal with helping the poor ones with economic
benefits so that they can enjoy a decent standard of living. The Fair Wages Act deals with
ensuring that all sections of the society receives their due share of wages necessary for procuring
the basic necessities of life. Currently, the rate of minimum wages that has been stipulated
Australian ministry of finance is 18.93 Australian Dollars per hour, which accounts up to 719.20
Australian Dollars per thirty eight hours a week. It had been decided upon in the year 2018. In
order to deal with the current rate of inflation and the marker scenario the government can
increase the rate of minimum wages to the battle the current economic situation. There is also
provision for the Ombudsman which ensures that the governmental regulations are followed with
regard to the implementation of the minimum wages. The ombudsman can be made more
proactive in enquiring whether the governmental regulations are followed properly or not by the
business organizations (Achdou et al., 2017).
In order to fulfill the social responsibility, the rate of progressive income taxation could
be increased so that with the tax the government can fund the social welfare schemes. The
current rate of income tax that is charged by the Australian government is multi tiered and
different levels of taxation are charged for different rates of income. The income tax is the major
source of revenue for the Australian government, and it is necessary that the government also
increases the rate of taxation from the business corporations. In lieu of increased taxation the
government can also increase the rate of investment activities in the nation which shall not
dissuade the corporations from fulfilling their corporate social responsibilities (Ahn et al., 2018).
The tax money can be used to boost up educational opportunities in the nation in order to
make the underprivileged sections of the society become self dependent and cater to their own
economic requirements. Education facilities are one of the basic facilities which tends to get

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hindered due to the lack of economic capacities. Thus by means of investing of educational
facilities the government of Australia can bridge the gap between the highly rich and the ones
who languish in abject poverty to a great extent (Ahn et al., 2018).
Conclusion
At the concluding section, it can be said that the prospects of positive changes are there in
Australia but there are challenges as well which can be solved by means of progressive changes
in the economic system of Australia. However, it must also be said that the concentration of
wealth in few hands is not an indication of healthy economy and also a sign that a huge section
of the population is being deprived of their rights, and that is something which should be put
under check.

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References
Achdou, Y., Han, J., Lasry, J.M., Lions, P.L. and Moll, B., 2017. Income and wealth distribution
in macroeconomics: A continuous-time approach (No. w23732). National Bureau of Economic
Research.
Ahn, S., Kaplan, G., Moll, B., Winberry, T. and Wolf, C., 2018. When inequality matters for
macro and macro matters for inequality. NBER Macroeconomics Annual, 32(1), pp.1-75.
Google.com. 2018. Inequality in Australia Report of 31 July, 2018,. [online] Available at:
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