UNLIKE Third World countries, poverty in Australia is not always on public display.
For that reason it has become a mostly hidden problem.
But in every city and town in this country, people are living below the poverty line and their situation is only getting worse.
A range of contributing factors have plunged many thousands of Australians into a poverty cycle which is not being assisted by current government policies.
The gap between the rich and poor is widening into a chasm, and groups such as the St Vincent de Paul Society are seeing this every day.
The Queensland society’s challenge to make poverty a federal election issue is totally valid and political parties of all colours should heed the warning.
