So, the days of hand-over-fist increases in government revenue are drawing to a close, just as the nation contemplates big social spending projects such as the National Disability Insurance Scheme and the Gonski education review. Inevitably there will be calls to delay the spending and cut programs. Just this week, after announcing a 10% rise… Continue Reading
Category Archives: Poverty & Wealth
A Bunch of Greedy Bastards
I like to think of Australians as a generous people, the sort of people who help out those in need. When bushfires hit we seem eager to give to those who have lost their homes. Every summer the Sydney cricket test turns pink on Jane McGrath day as money is raised for cancer nurses. When… Continue Reading
Foreign Aid. We Can Be Better Than Average
When in Cambodia fifteen months back I visited a remote community where the organisation I work for, Baptist World Aid Australia, was funding a community development project. The project will make a huge difference in the lives of the villagers through things like improved crop yields and better nutritional practices. But there are limits to… Continue Reading
Australia is a “Developing Country” Too. On Development
Australia currently ranks as the second most developed country in the world according to the United Nations Human Development Index. Cambodia, from where I write this, ranks 139th. With its high levels of poverty, underdeveloped infrastructure, and corrupt government, Cambodia is often described as a “developing” country. Australia by contrast is described as “developed”. This… Continue Reading
Myths About Poverty. Myth #3 – Teach a Man to Fish and He’ll Eat for a Lifetime
When I first started to engage seriously with global poverty I was taken with this proverb: [quote]Give a man a fish and he’ll eat for a day. Teach a man to fish and he’ll eat for a lifetime.[/quote] I think it captivated me because it held out the promise of sustainable solutions to poverty. If… Continue Reading
Myths About Poverty. Myth #2 – ‘The poor are always with you.’ Jesus said there’s not much we can do to end poverty
Do you think it possible that we could see a world where extreme poverty is the rare exception and sufficiency for all the rule? Many people say no. They imagine the world today is much the same as the world of fifty years ago – a wealthy, industrialised group of countries with growing prosperity and… Continue Reading
Myths About Poverty. Myth #1 – People are Poor Because They’re Lazy
Over the years I have heard many myths about poverty spoken as if they were truth. One of of the most common is that people are poor because they’re lazy. A few years back the World Bank conducted a study of the experiences of people in developing countries who had escaped extreme poverty.It found two… Continue Reading
Five Things We Need to Know Before Supporting an Orphanage
Australians love to support orphanages in poor countries, or one of the more recent adaptations of the idea, orphan villages. Orphanages push all our emotional buttons. On the one hand who can’t be moved by the plight of children who are alone and vulnerable? On the other hand institutional care is so tangible – we… Continue Reading
How much does my aid agency spend on administration? Why this question tells you nothing helpful.
I heard a story that a wealthy businessman approached the CEO of an Australian aid and development agency with the offer of a $1 million donation. He wanted it to go to Africa and he didn’t want any of it to be spent on administration. ‘Certainly we can do that’ replied the CEO. He opened… Continue Reading
“Blessed are the hungry. Woe to you who are rich” The Key to Understanding Poverty & Wealth in the Bible
For many years I puzzled over the bible’s teaching on poverty and wealth. Why were Jesus and the prophets so down on wealthy people? Why was poverty so commonly framed as a justice issue? Why the singling out of widows and orphans? It all came together when I learned the significance of land. The biblical… Continue Reading