Evaluate Inequality in Australia by Examining Outcomes Experienced by People. in Your

Evaluate inequality in Australia by examining outcomes experienced by people. In your answer refer to age and culture.

Australia has as its ethos mateship and a fair go. However there are inequalities in Australian society. Many young people are marginalised from the aspirations of mainstream society. According to Tony Vinson's landmark report, Dropping Off the Edge 2007 10% of young people are not engaged in work or study. This statistic remains consistent in 2009. Young people risk becoming trapped in the culture of the underclass. The culture of the underclass is represented by early school leaving, long term unemployment, homelessness, substance abuse and crime.

A content analysis of the documentary Field of Broken Dreams ( The Sunday Program Channel Nine 2005) analysed inequalities suffered by young people in the Glenquarie Housing estate in Macquarie Fields. The Macquarie Fields riots of 2005 provided a window into the culture of the underclass. The case studies from the documentary represented cross generational unemployment. When residents moved to the housing estate in the 1970s they were promised jobs in industrial plants not yet built. The industrial plants were never built due to the restructuring of the Australian economy and off shore manufacturing. The families became welfare dependent. These inequalities impacted on the next generation. The case studies interviewed were all early school leavers, long term unemployed with associated problems of substance abuse and crime. Tony Vinson stated in his report commissioned by the Catholic Church, Dropping Off the Edge 2007 that poverty was caused by early school leaving and lack of access to technology, this is known as the digital divide. These indicators of poverty remain and have not yet been addressed by the 'education revolution' of the Rudd government.

The underclass also experiences inequality in housing. Adele Horin in the article No Place Like Home (SMH 2006) analyses the impact of homelessness and marginal homelessness on young people. Research has revealed that the best way to avoid long term homeless and inclusion in street culture is early intervention. However one third of Australians homeless are young people under twenty five years, that is 34,000 young people sleeping rough in Australia every night. Welfare housing in New South Wales has a ten year waiting list, ten thousand people are on the waiting list. Media coverage of the Macquarie Fields riots of 2005 and the Rosemeadow brawl of 2009 showed Radburn design welfare housing in disrepair.

Young single mothers are a vulnerable cohort within the culture of homelessness in Australia. Horin's article refers to the plight of young single mothers living in caravan parks, they are marginally homeless. Caravan parks do not require a bond and rent is lower than other private rental accommodation. However caravan parks also provide accommodation for men recently released from prison. Caravans are unfenced, cramped, cold in winter and hot in summer. Added to the problems associated with living in a caravan, caravan parks are closing down to provide Meriton style developments. Bettina Arndt's land mark research And Baby Makes Two (SMH 1998) indicated that 75% of never married mothers under twenty five had no tertiary education and 50% have not completed high school. They are therefore unable to afford rent on adequate housing in the private rental market. Boarding houses become the only alternative accommodation for young single mothers on low incomes.

The culture of the underclass, a culture that alienates young people from the aspirations of mainstream society, limits the potential of young people and leads to cross generational inequalities.