August 2, 2023

Where to start?

EXPLORE MAPS

DATA DASHBOARD

ANALYSIS (PDF)

Poverty hurts people and communities.

It undermines people’s mental and physical health, creates considerable stress for families and can hinder children’s emotional, physical and mental wellbeing and development.

Tragically, poverty is all too common in Victoria.

This analysis explores the extent and characteristics of poverty in Victoria.

In total, more than 800,000 Victorians live in significant economic disadvantage, including 216,000 children.

That’s 13.3% of all Victorians.

However, as our analysis reveals, not everyone is impacted evenly.

There are some groups of people and parts of Victoria where disadvantage is deep and worsening.

How to explore the data

There are three ways to explore the data and learn about poverty in Victoria.

You can

• Use the interactive maps below
• Read our detailed analysis (including comparisons to 2016 poverty data)
• Explore the interactive data dashboard (with poverty data by council area)
• Take a guided tour of the data prepared by our project partners at NATSEM.

Key findings

As detailed and explained in our detailed analysis:

• 800,000 people in Victoria are living in poverty.
• Pandemic supports reveal poverty is a policy choice.
• Child poverty remains significant and widespread.
• Poverty across Melbourne has increased since 2016.
• Poverty remains stubbornly high across regional and rural Victoria.
• Victoria has deep pockets of severe place-based disadvantage.
• More people over 65 are living in poverty – and it’s getting worse.
• Housing costs are hurting both renters and mortgage holders.
• Having a job makes you less likely to live in poverty but doesn’t protect you fully.

VCOSS CEO Emma King on ABC Radio

Top councils – by total number of people living in poverty 

Casey	56,548
Hume	46,684
Wyndham	43,600
Whittlesea	35,733
Brimbank	32,349
Greater Geelong	30,437
Melton	28,521
Greater Dandenong	27,859
Monash	22,876
Melbourne	19,988

Top ten councils — by poverty rate

Hume	20.59%
Central Goldfields*	19.7%
Greater Dandenong	18.34%
Brimbank	18.13%
Melton	17.36%
Casey	16.59%
Whittlesea	16.55%
Wyndham	16.12%
Latrobe*	16.11%
Yarriambiack*	15.9%

VCOSS is the peak body for Victoria’s social and community sector, and the state’s premier social advocacy body.

We work towards a Victoria free from poverty and disadvantage, where every person and community experiences genuine wellbeing.

Read more.

August 2, 2023

PRIMARY AUTHOR

Meg Brodie

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VCOSS acknowledges the Traditional Owners of Country, and we pay respect to Elders and Ancestors. Our business is conducted on sovereign, unceded Aboriginal land. The VCOSS offices are located on Wurundjeri Woiwurrung land in central Naarm.

One of the most widely touted statistics in our national landscape is the unemployment rate, which, at 4 per cent, is ‘historically low’.

The stories this statistic is used to tell are overwhelmingly upbeat.

Stories about our post-COVIC recovery, about national strength and better living conditions.

But if you don’t feel a strong sense of identification with these stories – if you don’t feel as though the effects of the pandemic are behind us, as though our communities are stronger and the pressures of daily life are easing – you’re not alone.

A new report commissioned by Catholic Social Services Victoria and St Mary’s House of Welcome finds that headline statistics about unemployment figures create a “false optimism” that doesn’t correspond to the reality of many Victorians’ lives.

That’s because when you dig down beneath the headlines, the reality of our post-COVID recovery looks a lot spottier and more uneven.

In a pandemic that produced not just a crisis of public health but one of job loss and insecurity, women and young people fared worse than other cohorts, and Victorians fared worse than people in other states.

And these inequities have continued into the ‘recovery’.

Thousands of Victorians – particularly women – have withdrawn from the labour market, artificially driving down unemployment numbers.

The picture is even worse for temporary migrants, who were excluded from social protections such as JobKeeper and JobSeeker, plunging many into economic crisis and deepening pre-existing inequalities. According to official figures (which broadly underestimate), almost a quarter of migrants were unemployed in late 2021.

The pandemic has left a “social and economic scarring effect” on many who were already struggling.

And the community sector, which is so often left to cover the shortfall between government support and people’s needs – some might even say to hold the fabric of society together – also bears these scars.

Many organisations and the people who staff them were hit hard by the pandemic, with the costs of COVID adaptations, a loss of fundraising income, and a loss of volunteers (especially older people) due to lockdowns and social distancing.

This at a time when there was massive growth in demand for social assistance and services like food support; whole new cohorts were looking to the sector for help.

The effects of the pandemic continue to be felt by community organisations. Volunteer numbers have not recovered to pre-pandemic levels, especially among older volunteers, those with disabilities, or those with existing medical conditions. This puts huge pressure on the active volunteers remaining.

And for many Victorians, particularly those locked out of protections like income support, the economic impacts of the pandemic are far from over. As of late 2021, the number of people with no income seeking emergency relief was more than double pre-pandemic levels.

The stories behind these statistics are heartbreaking, and they’re ongoing.

They point to a need for:

• a significant and meaningful rise in economic protections like JobSeeker;
• more investment in and expansion of public and social housing;
• ongoing and increased funding for social service providers, including organisations providing emergency relief and accommodation.

As the new report puts it:

Government—both Federal and State—must recognise that millions have been permanently affected by the pandemic, that labour markets have not fully recovered despite low headline unemployment figures, and that thousands of community members experiencing the most vulnerability are being left behind as Victoria and Australia emerge from the pandemic.

Scarring effects of the pandemic economy: COVID-19’s ongoing impact on jobs, insecurity and social services in Victoria

Statistics matter because they direct our attention to some stories and not others.

The tangible real-world effects of choosing which stories we, as a society, pay attention to are never clearer than during budget season.

Even as the health-related restrictions of the COVID-19 pandemic drop away, the effects of the pandemic are not over, especially as they manifest for many Victorians: in insecurity and economic hardship.

We need to look beyond the false optimism of headline statistics to truly help people recover.

Read the report, Scarring effects of the pandemic economy: COVID-19’s ongoing impact on jobs, insecurity and social services in Victoria.

As dreams of homeownership recede into a hazy fog of unjust Federal housing policy, long-term renting is the only option for a growing number of Victorians, especially young people.

Until recently, if you were among the one in three Victorians forced to compete in an intensely competitive rental market like some new Hunger Games spinoff, there was no guarantee you wouldn’t end up in living in a dump.

The general power imbalance of renting combined with a lack of available housing meant many renters were forced to settle for uncomfortable or even unsafe homes, without things like basic cooking facilities or lockable external doors.

In March 2021, Victoria introduced minimum standards for rental properties.

Mandating minimum standards (really basic things, like doors that lock, toilets that flush and stovetops that actually work) was an overdue acknowledgment by the Victorian Government that renters need to be safe and comfortable in their home.

But there’s one area in which renters still lag conspicuously behind homeowners when it comes to safety, comfort and cost-saving.

Homeowners are twice as likely to have insulation than renters, and three times as likely to have double-glazing windows, according to new data from Energy Consumers Australia.

For renters, that means sweating through summer and shivering through winter. It’s especially rough for people already struggling to pay the high energy bills that come with heating and cooling.

And the inequity is even more glaring when it comes to solar power: homeowners are almost five times more likely than renters to have rooftop panels.

That’s 34 per cent of homeowners producing their own energy and selling what they don’t need, compared to only 7 per cent of renters.

Climate change will keep increasing the risk and unfairness of this situation, with more dangerous summer conditions and more power needed to cool people’s homes.

Should the clean energy revolution only be for the benefit of the already well-off? We think not.

There’s lots that can be done to make every rental property in Victoria comfortable and energy efficient.

Firstly, with the stroke of a pen the Victorian Government could mandate it, just as they did with other items. Investment property owners would be required to install air-conditioning and double-glazed windows before advertising for tenants.

Installing solar panels on rental properties is a harder conversation, but an absolutely necessary one. Renters should have access to the benefits of affordable and sustainable energy, which would also help cut Victoria’s carbon emissions.

Panels are too expensive to become a minimum standard, and property owners have little incentive to install them when they won’t reap the benefits themselves.

Uptake of Solar Victoria’s Solar for Renters scheme has been slow for this reason, despite the introduction of no-interest loans that renters can help pay off with their bill savings.

As part of the solution, the Victorian Government should invest in solar gardens, and subsidise them for renters the same way rooftop panels are subsidised for homeowners. These schemes allow renters to buy solar panels away from their home, and receive a discount on their energy bill.

And renters who take up the scheme can continue benefiting from the panels when they move from home to home, lease to lease.

What it all boils down to is ensuring our response to climate change is equitable.

All Victorians deserve safe and comfortable homes. It will be a dangerous injustice if Victorian renters get left behind on solar power.

The Victorian Government is being urged to plant more trees and build more parks in Melbourne’s west.

Green spaces were a lifeline for many people during COVID lockdowns, and a place for exercise and relaxation long before, but not everybody is lucky enough to have a local park.

About 340,000 people don’t have a park within walking distance of their home.

And people living in the western suburbs are missing out the most, according to a new Parliamentary Inquiry report.

This isn’t just some geographical quirk. Rather, the ‘green east’ and the ‘barren west’ mimic an established socioeconomic divide:

Put plainly, if you’re surviving on a low income, renting or living in a poorer suburb, you’re less likely to be surrounded by parks or trees.

Is that fair? Of course not.

Not just because every Melburnian should have equal access to green spaces, but because not providing people with local parkland actively makes them poorer and sicker.

Trees do an amazing job of sucking up the heat and keeping people cool, meaning ‘greener suburbs’ stay relatively cooler in the heat.

On the flipside, people in hotter and poorer areas (with fewer parks) are more likely to also be in cheap or shoddy housing. With poor insulation and perhaps no air conditioning (or the money to run it) these people literally bake inside their homes.

This exacerbates existing ill health, and causes new medical conditions.

This dynamic is compounded further if you have a disability or mobility challenge, and you can’t easily seek refuge at your local shop, library or community center.

Not providing people with local parkland actively makes them poorer and sicker.

Access to kids’ sport is also a factor, with many low-income families reliant on public infrastructure like basketball courts and ovals. If they’re not there, you can’t use them.

Climate change will turbocharge every component of this existing challenge.

In a report released last week, the Victorian Parliament’s Environment and Planning Committee made a series of sensible suggestions to address this.

They include the Victorian Government setting two new targets: one determining how much parkland should be required near people’s homes, and the other saying how much ‘tree canopy’ new suburbs should require.

The Government has already acknowledged the problem and made a first step towards fixing it by pledging to plant 500,000 trees in Melbourne’s west over the next two years. The report suggested that this and future tree-planting programs should be quantified, so we know how Melbourne is going with its greening targets.

The Committee also called for new funding for parkland establishment, and dedicated whole sections of its Final Report to the mental and social benefits of environmental infrastructure.

(You can read our submission to the Inquiry here, as well as the Committee’s Final Report.)

The challenge and some of the solutions have now been laid out for policymakers.

The next step is action.

GUEST AUTHOR

Personal reflections on the pandemic, what women need for a fair recovery and the benefits of gender lens budgeting, by Natalie Kon-yu

On that Saturday, the 21st of August, I was keeping an eye on the news while playing with my kids. My husband was in the lab – he’s a biomedical scientist working on Covid-19 so he’d been going into the lab more often.

His time, and consequently ours too, had become dictated by the readiness of tiny cells.

In Melbourne, as in the rest of Victoria, all our lives had been dictated by tiny cells. The case numbers of COVID-19 had been rising, and that Saturday the news that many of us expected finally came in. Things that had been opened in the last two weeks would be closed. For us, and many other parents, this meant that childcare centres would be shut.

I felt a sigh of relief, followed by a moment of panic. In our house, both adults work and we have a seven-year-old and a three-year-old. I’d been uneasily dropping my three-year-old to childcare for the last two weeks. At home, I’d been able to focus on my daughter’s schooling, and given how many days of school she’s missed since last year, this seemed important.

But with the case numbers rising I was glad that childcare centres were closing and that the daily choice I’d had to make for the last fortnight was taken from me. It seemed callous to make early childhood educators work, while primary, secondary and tertiary educators got to work from home, especially given the way the most mundane illnesses can rip through a childcare centre. We would keep our son at home for the duration. And, also, we would have to scramble.

I’m aware that I’m very lucky my husband and I are both employed. Lucky because work, for both of us, gives us a sense of meaning and fulfillment. And lucky because we would really struggle without both our incomes.

More than a century ago in the Harvester Judgement, an arbitration court judge decreed that the minimum wage should allow a man to support a family of five. Times have really changed since then. Not only have wage rises failed to match the cost of living in Australia, but more and more working Australians have been forced into casualised labour, which doesn’t incorporate things like sick leave, carers leave and long-service leave.

Having two full-time workers in the home has become a necessity for most Australian families. In 2016, the Australian Institute of Family Studies showed that 66 per cent of all Australian families had two parents in the workforce.

During the COVID outbreaks, there were no national or state strategies detailing how parents should approach the issue of leave if they had work and caring responsibilities.

Even in the earlier stages of the pandemic when government support for workers was more ready and reliable, people with full-time caring responsibilities were left out of the picture. JobKeeper, with all its problems, was an incredibly welcome initiative for many Australian workers – no one should be made vulnerable to job loss in a pandemic – but it should have been only a first step. No similar funding was ever made available to employers to give their staff extra leave, or supplement half days of work with leave, if they were caring for a family. This was a burden that each of us had to take on ourselves.

And it’s on the record that the majority of care work in Australian families falls to women.

In the report ‘Worsening of Australian Women’s Experiences under COVID-19: A Crisis for Victoria’s Future’, a team of researchers found that ‘Australian women’s larger care burdens – to children, spouses, and relatives – have resulted in increasing demands for their labour under lockdown, yet much of this work is unrecognised and unpaid.’ Not only this, but a crisis emerged in women’s paid work, too. The report found that during the second lockdown of 2020, Victorian women reported the highest rates of job loss, outstripping both Victorian men and women around the rest of the country. Women have also experienced higher rates of mental ill-health during the pandemic.

It’s on the record that the majority of care work in Australian families falls to women.

In some ways this crisis has just exacerbated and highlighted systemic issues that were around long before the pandemic. Australia has a famously poor parental leave scheme, just below the OECD average and leagues behind other nations – famously the Nordic countries, but also places like Japan, Korea, Estonia and the Slovak Republic.

We also have prohibitively high childcare costs.

Of course, many of these issues are dictated by the Federal Government, and we need to see changes on the federal level including to the parental leave scheme. The Grattan Institute, for instance, recently recommended an expansion of the scheme, adding up to six weeks to the current 20 weeks of paid parental leave allowance, and also a ‘use it or lose it’ clause to encourage Australian fathers to do more childcare. The modelling finds that this federal encouragement of women back into the workforce would see a net boost to the GDP of 300 million dollars, and a boost to women’s earning and their superannuation, and that it would also make men happier by increasing their life satisfaction and improving their relationships.

There are also things the Victorian Government could do, in the pandemic context and beyond, to help level the heavily gendered playing field. The state went some way towards recognising the weight of care responsibilities during lockdowns by allowing single parents (the vast majority of whom are women) to access childcare whether or not they are essential workers. For the bulk of the lockdowns single parents with paid employment were essentially doing two jobs by themselves; to think otherwise is to fail to recognise the labour involved in looking after children.

There should also be extra investment in women’s recovery from the disproportionate effects of the pandemic, including health services that address gender-based illness and family violence services that focus on primary prevention.

Gender lens budgeting would allow for policies, programs and resource-allocation to be informed by the best information about combatting inequality and supporting women.

And the Victorian Government should fully and adequately fund public schools so parents don’t face hidden educational costs and so schools, which have been under more pressure than ever, can support all their students through the pandemic and recovery.

Governments in Australia always claim to be strong on family values, and we’ve heard a lot in recent times about the need for gender equality in our society. Now is the time to step up and offer more than rhetoric. Australian working parents – code: working mothers – need tangible help. Without it many will fall through the cracks.

Engaging with culturally diverse and Aboriginal people in a tailored, safe and appropriate manner is crucial to ensuring those communities don’t get left behind as the nation races towards an 80 per cent COVID vaccine target, a VCOSS forum of health experts has heard.

The Vaccinating Victoria event was also told there’s a frustrating lack of access to accurate data for organisations, such as the Victorian Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation (VACCHO), when it comes to knowing where to focus its vaccination efforts.

Prime Minister Scott Morrison has pledged all but the most highly targeted lockdowns will end once 80 per cent of the eligible population is vaccinated against COVID-19.

VACCHO chief executive Jill Gallagher said the vaccination rate for Aboriginal Victorians is higher than any other state, but there is still a long way to go.

“If the rhetoric is that we’re going to open up at 70 or 80 per cent, we’re going to open up the country, we still have a lot of people in our communities, in my Aboriginal community that is unvaxxed, and are quite vulnerable, and have a lot of underlying issues,” she said.

“So that’s the scary bit.”

Update: Since this article was published an error in Commonwealth vaccine data collection has been revealed, meaning there’s been an overrepresentation of the vaccination rates of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria. See VACCHO’s statement here.

The C-19 Network – a consortium comprising cohealth, Star Health, IPC Health, each and DPV Health – has delivered more than 76,000 COVID-19 vaccinations to people across Melbourne from culturally diverse backgrounds, those in insecure housing or experiencing homelessness, and people in high-density accommodation.

It has conducted more than 300,000 COVID-19 tests since March last year.

C-19 Network chief executive Jayne Nelson said engagement teams and a bi-cultural workforce were on the ground speaking local community languages.

“They’re communicating with families and individuals to raise the awareness of COVID safety, prevent transmission, and encourage vaccination,” she said.

The Network set up vaccination clinics at the base of the high-rise towers in inner Melbourne, which were in hard lockdown last year.

“These vaccines are going to save lives, and they’re saving lives already,” C-19 Network chair and infectious diseases specialist, Nadia Chaves said.

“But we know that unless we actually make a concerted effort to provide vaccines in a way that are accessible, people are going to miss out on care.”

Dr Chaves said it was integral people are offered vaccinations in a suitable community setting where they felt safe.

For example, during the current outbreak in Melbourne’s north west, more than 10,000 people – sometimes up to 550 a day – were vaccinated at the Broadmeadows Town Hall.

Some 675 vaccinations were provided across three days at the Hindu temple in Mill Park and the temple leaders accommodated health workers by allowing them into the venue with their shoes on (before extra booties could be found), which isn’t something that would usually happen.

“That just shows the length to which communities are willing and able to want to access services,” Dr Chaves said.

“It was the community that helped identify the safest place to get vaccinated for community members where they would feel most comfortable.”

The C-19 Network has worked in areas where people who are homeless gather such as rooming houses and caravan parks.

People who have come to Victoria as refugees have also been vaccinated in trusted places, such as community centres and churches, with the support of onsite professional interpreters.

Dr Chaves said she didn’t support calls for unvaccinated people to have limited rights.

“I hate the thought of doing something like that because it’s your own autonomy to make decisions about your health,” she said. 

“Anything that we can do to partner with communities and provide things in a way that makes them feel safe and comfortable is the way to go.” 

Ms Gallagher said Aboriginal community-controlled health organisations looked after their communities by building trust with the people they serve, which is essential when rolling out something as sensitive as COVID-19 vaccine.

Building trust involves a personal touch – knowing who has had the vaccine and who hasn’t – and delivering care in a culturally appropriate setting that gives the community comfort and confidence, she said.

“They know whether they need to chase up Auntie Jill, or Uncle Fred – they know how to do that.

“And if there is hesitancy, they need to work out strategies that the mob, that the community, are going to listen to.”

They know whether they need to chase up Auntie Jill, or Uncle Fred – they know how to do that. And if there is hesitancy, they need to work out strategies that the mob, that the community, are going to listen to.

Ms Gallagher said a lot of government information about COVID-19 vaccinations is not easily understood by Aboriginal communities.

“So what we do is we actually re-message the government messaging in our own socials,” she said.

Access to data has been a huge issue, with Ms Gallagher noting she does not know exactly how many people in Victoria’s Aboriginal community have been vaccinated.

“We don’t have access to accurate data,” she warned.

“I get frustrated when we get caught up in politics, in relation to whether it’s a Commonwealth or state government responsibility.

“We get caught up in that all the time, and it’s infuriating and frustrating.”

Report by Melissa Jenkins.

Register for the next session

While this is a sad and anxiety-inducing truth, the community service workers on the front lines of disaster management – whether in bushfire recovery, heatwave awareness or pandemic response – are working in ways that can make communities stronger.

They recognise the value of establishing trusted relationships and networks pre-disaster. These pre-existing networks can adapt to any kind of emergency, whereas it can be too late to build relationships from scratch once a disaster hits.

This was a major takeaway from the presentations at the eighth annual joint emergency management forum co-hosted by VCOSS and the Municipal Association of Victoria (MAV).

The theme of the forum was Collaborating for Community. Collaboration allows organisations from different sectors to coordinate their services and utilise each other’s strengths.

The four speakers from across Victoria outlined a range of local projects that demonstrate the importance of collaboration in emergency preparation, response and recovery. The projects all rely on mobilising existing links throughout local communities.

Presentations and resources

Louise Scheidl from Albury Wodonga Health outlined My Place My Home, which nourished young people’s wellbeing through creative arts in bushfire-affected regions in the Shire of Towong.

• Presentation
• Outcome report

Heather Lawson from enliven discussed Hot Spots, which built heatwave awareness among culturally and linguistically diverse communities in the City of Dandenong.

• Presentation
• Evaluation report

Cheree Jukes from Mildura Rural City Council reflected on the Covid-19 Emergency Relief Response, which provided local community members with food relief, shopping assistance, medication pick-up and other essential needs.

• Presentation
• Evaluation and learning report

Jo Brown from Southern Grampians Glenelg Primary Care Partnership explained the Collaboration for Community Resilience (COVID-19) Network, which shared understanding of the impacts of the pandemic to identify gaps and opportunities to respond.

• Presentation
• Summary report

The VCOSS-MAV Emergency Management Forums engage state and local governments, community service organisations, emergency service organisations and a range of other stakeholders to build resilience and to help deliver enhanced emergency planning, response, relief and recovery. Through the sharing of information and experiences, the forums continue to encourage collaboration and cooperation across the emergency management sector.

Why we must build a common understanding of what a wellbeing economy can offer Victoria.

I’m sure that, like me, you’ve been part of personal and professional conversations throughout the pandemic about what a ‘good life’ looks like for our community, both now and into the future.

With many of the communities we live in and work with under extreme stress, we’re seeing pre-existing inequities deepening and having real and lasting impacts on people’s lives.

In the health sector and more broadly, ‘wellbeing’ is a term that is more and more commonly used to describe the idea of ‘a good life’.

When we talk about wellbeing at VicHealth, we see it as something beyond the absence of disease. It encompasses concepts of thriving individuals and communities, equity and social justice, environmental sustainability – as well as social, economic and cultural sustainability – and planetary health, and culturally diverse and enduring knowledges.

And core to that is an understanding that promoting wellbeing isn’t just about a good life for today’s citizens. We need to think about the long-term implications of policy decisions, and how they can lead to future generations flourishing in an equitable and sustainable society.

It has been clear for a long time to many of us that GDP is not an accurate measure of how we’re doing as a society. And it cannot indicate what life will be like for future Victorians.

The concept of ‘wellbeing’ is far more useful for understanding how we’re all doing, and, of course, how the planet around us and future generations will do as well. Shifting to a wellbeing economy approach can benefit everybody.

Last year, VicHealth commissioned The George Institute for Global Health to report on how best to embed wellbeing into policy-making.

That report — Integrating wellbeing into the business of government: The feasibility of innovative legal and policy measures to achieve sustainable development in Australia — is an incredibly useful look at concrete examples of how complex policy change has been achieved internationally, and what factors could underpin a similar approach in Victoria and Australia.

Our hope is that by bringing together policy, practice and research experts from health, environment, community services and youth sectors, we can build a common understanding of what wellbeing economies can offer, and how they can be applied in Victoria.

It has been clear for a long time to many of us that GDP is not an accurate measure of how we’re doing as a society.

The Victorian Treasurer and the Federal Shadow Treasurer have already publicly stated their support for similar approaches, and we believe this is an ideal time to come together and build on existing momentum within Victoria, interstate and internationally.

If the pandemic has taught us one thing, it is that the social determinants of health are very real. The deep cracks of inequity, which we have ignored or thinly papered over for decades, have become unavoidable.

As we look to the future, we must take this opportunity to gather momentum, to gather allies, and to set our sights on a much healthier, fairer way of measuring progress and wellbeing within the context of our political economies.

I’m looking forward to being part of the conversation about what a wellbeing economy might look like in Victoria, both now and into the future.

By Matt Jowett

This story is part of the My Corona series. We’re publishing personal stories about life in the pandemic, the challenges of lockdowns and building back fairer. 

I can’t help but feel a sharp sense of existential dread and loss whenever someone asks, “So, what do you do for work?”

When COVID-19 decimated the events industry in 2020 – an industry in which I had worked for 15 years – I had contracts lined up with Melbourne International Comedy Festival, Pro Bono Australia, Live Nation and Crown Melbourne, and even with an NGO that took me to the UN Headquarters in New York. I’d recently worked on tours for Adele and Coldplay. I was truly hitting my career stride.

All that disappeared over a period of two months. I lost contracts worth tens of thousands of dollars, representing my ability to pay my bills and credit cards, pay down my HECS, contribute to my retirement and keep a roof over my head.

As the federal and state governments dragged their feet on announcing financial support – and other measures around evictions, utility relief and mental health access – my only option was to withdraw money from my super. I lost around a third of it in tax, as this was just weeks before the COVID policy of tax-free early super access was announced.

I never had much super to begin with, having spent years working mostly casual and freelance jobs, and what I withdrew was a majority of the money that should have been gathering interest for my retirement. I shudder to think how much that loss represents, and how far back it will set my retirement age – but it wasn’t so much a choice as a necessity.

In April 2020, once a policy agenda for support was in place, I attempted to access JobKeeper. As a sole trader I found the application process very confusing and, after failing to gain access to it, like many Australians I landed in line at Centrelink for JobSeeker. At that point I thought little of it – with the Coronavirus Supplement in place it was a similar level of support anyway. I would later learn that being a ‘welfare recipient’ would place major limits on my options and compound the pandemic’s impacts.

With so many barriers to returning to work in events, or any industry at that point, I felt the need to go back to uni and reskill. I shifted to Youth Allowance, just as that payment halved with the end of the Coronavirus Supplement – as if Coronavirus itself had ended. 

I had access to the State Government’s Utility Relief Grant Scheme, and micro grants from NGOs like Support Act helped get me through. In late 2020 I managed to get a few days a week of casual work at a local footwear retail store. All these combined bits of income were still not enough to make ends meet, but they kept the rent paid. I even got approached in 2021 with an event contract to deliver a small event in October; the first time I’d had an offer of event work since early 2020.

This brings me to the situation we’re in now. If 2020 was characterised by a sentiment of unity and support – ‘we’re all in this together’ – 2021 has been the year the crisis continued but the support, largely, did not.

As COVID-19 came back with a mutated vengeance, and with it the necessary lockdowns and restrictions, the Coronavirus Supplement did not return for social security recipients and nor did the JobKeeper program. Instead, a range of one-off disaster support payments have been announced, but for millions of Australians in my position of surviving on a mix of paid work and partial social security payments these schemes were not available, despite losing work.

As retail shut down, and that new contract decided it was too risky and cancelled, I found myself struggling through Victoria’s fourth and fifth lockdowns on around $600 a fortnight – barely enough to cover rent and about half my average income when I’d been working. I was constantly frustrated to find I was locked out of federal and state assistance while adhering to state lockdowns that kept me from work.

I understand the need for these public health measures, and am generally very supportive of them. What I don’t understand is setting the 2021 JobSeeker rate – $630 a fortnight – at around half that of 2020 – $1,200 a fortnight – and excluding those struggling to survive on it from any other support while lockdowns and other restrictions are an ongoing feature of our lives.

If 2020 was characterised by a sentiment of unity and support – ‘we’re all in this together’ – 2021 has been the year the crisis continued but the support, largely, did not.

I regularly have to put off paying bills so I can eat, and I go weeks eating no-name two-minute noodles or 90-cent tins of tuna with a small bowl of rice. I postpone repairs to items or vet check-ups for my pets, I’ve cancelled much-needed psychology and dental appointments to ensure I can pay rent. I cancelled any subscription or membership I could. Without a gym membership and with a drastically reduced grocery budget my health is not what it used to be. Outside of lockdowns I politely decline friends’ invitations to social gatherings if there’s any kind of cost, and feel ashamed to admit it’s because I can’t afford it.  

On recently announcing the return of some of the financial support that had been removed, Scott Morrison said, “The priority is to ensure we’re there to support those that need that help … this is the task, we will come through this lockdown … and on the other side we come back strongly, that’s what we saw last year.”

To that I say: Look a little harder. As someone on a welfare payment I have not been eligible for the lockdown support payments that were supposedly for “anyone who lost income and hours”.

And much of the support that has been temporarily reinstated is only for NSW. Where is it for the rest of us, for the rest of 2021? Where was it for Victoria’s almost back-to-back fourth and fifth lockdowns?

Now in our sixth lockdown, I’ve yet again lost casual work. I’m not sure if I’ll be able to access disaster payments or not. It has sent me into an awfully dark head space.

I don’t know how people in similar positions to mine, here at the bottom of the rungs – the casuals, students, those with disability or on single parent payments – will ever recover their losses.

I’m 34 years old, I’ve left a career built over 15 years in an industry that will take years to return to its previous scale, I’m back in university restricting my availability for work, I have next to nothing left in my superannuation. I am broke, stressed, worried, defeated, anxious, and physically sick from it all. 

The future for me looks, frankly, bloody grim. 

Mental Health and Wellbeing 
$3.8 billion to begin implementation of the Mental Health Royal Commission recommendations. The package is vast, and includes: 

• $144.4m in 2021-22 ($954m/4 yrs) to establish 22 adult and older person’s areas mental health services, with greater capacity to treat, care and support adults, and 24/7 operating model
• $5.9m in 2021-22 ($264m/4 yrs) to establish the first 20 (of 50–60) local mental health and wellbeing services, where people can access community-based mental health treatment, care and wellbeing supports delivered by a multidisciplinary team 
• $173m for suicide prevention and response, including continuation of funding for 13 Hospital Outreach Post-Suicidal Engagement sites
• $22.9m in 2021-22 ($116m/4 yrs) to support the mental health and wellbeing of Aboriginal Victorians, including funding for ACCOs
• $22.5m in 2021-22 ($196m/4 yrs) for a new infant and children’s mental health and wellbeing system, and $266m/4 yrs for young people’s mental health. 

The package also includes funding for a new mental health emergency response, expansion of forensic services, integrated care for people living with mental illness and drug and alcohol addictions, and to create a pipeline of workers into the mental health sector. The package will be funded by a new payroll tax levy on businesses with payroll of more than $10m.  

Community health services 

$76.1m in 2021-22 ($91m/4 yrs) to address demand for community-based health services. The package includes public dental services, cancer services and maternal child health. It will also include three new residential AOD treatment facilities, additional community-based counselling and expanded forensic services. In addition, funding will be provided to women’s health services for gender responsive healthcare, family violence prevention services, women’s mental health and sexual and reproductive health services.  

Support for asylum seekers 

$3.9m in 2021-22 to continue existing mental health supports to people seeking asylum who are ineligible for Medicare and income support. Also includes nurse and GP care, homelessness assistance, case coordination and emergency relief like food, medication and utilities.    

Decriminalising public drunkenness 

$9.5m in 2021-22 to establish the health-based response to public drunkenness, including funding for trial sites, health outreach teams, transport and sobering up shelters.  

100,000 lives

$9.6m in 2021-22 ($45.6m/4 yrs) to improve the health and wellbeing of 100,000 Victorians by intervening early and reducing preventable hospital admissions, reducing unintended harms and limiting unnecessary medical interventions.

Expanding emergency departments

$2.9m in 2021-22 ($5.8m/2 yrs) funding is provided to increase emergency department capacity at Maroondah Hospital, Casey Hospital, Northern Hospital, Werribee Mercy Hospital and Austin Hospital.

Public fertility care services

$11.2m in 2021-22 ($50.1m /3 yrs) to deliver public fertility care, including help for more parents to access IVF and a public sperm and egg bank.  

Medically supervised injecting rooms

$18.7m in 2021-22 ($40.1m/2 yrs) continued funding for the North Richmond supervised injecting room, and funding to establish a second supervised injecting room in the City of Melbourne.

Sunbury and Cobaw Community Health Hub Expansion

$3m in 2021-22 to expand the community facilities and services at the Sunbury and Cobaw Community Health Hub.

Public health and local place-based delivery

$801m in 2021-22 ($823m/4 yrs) funding to continue the core public health response to COVID-19 and manage any further spread and outbreaks. Includes operation of local public health units, COVID-19 prevention activities, health promotion activities and specialised response capability to support Victorians living in public housing, disability accommodation and other high-risk settings.

Analysis

The State Budget matches the promise of the final report of the Royal Commission into Victoria’s Mental Health System with significant funding. Funding has been provided to improve people’s access to community-based treatment and support, and deliver services for the vast ‘missing middle’; those people who were missing out. 

The major reforms outlined in the Royal Commission and funded in this Budget will be funded by a Mental Health and Wellbeing Levy. The levy will apply to businesses with a payroll over $10 million. This levy appears to be designed fairly, and if equally well applied, it will raise the money required to fix our broken mental health system. 

The focus on children and young people’s mental health, and the investment in mental health in schools, will help Victoria’s children and young people recover from the impacts of the pandemic and provide early intervention if they develop mental ill-health.  

This Budget also signals a welcome shift to early intervention, including by investing in reducing unnecessary hospital admissions and medical interventions. Early intervention keeps people healthier, reduces the risk of complications and is economically sound.  

VCOSS has long argued for Victoria to become a wellbeing economy, and adopt a wellbeing budgeting approach. We see positive signs in this Budget that this formal shift might occur soon. We look forward to working with the Victorian Government to identify how a wellbeing budget could help us measure social progress and track our recovery from COVID.  

While the significant investments in community health, alcohol and drug treatment and women’s health services are very welcome, the bulk of the funding is for only one year. With demand on these services increasing, sustained investment is needed beyond 2021-22. 

The second supervised injecting room in the City of Melbourne will save lives and help people struggling with drug addiction. It’s evidence based, smart policy. The North Richmond facility is the busiest supervised injecting room in Australia, so additional facilities are needed to take pressure off it, and reduce drug related harms for more Victorians.

• Reducing bushfire risk in a rapidly changing climate
  $78.6m in 2021-22 ($384.2m/4 yrs) to reduce the impact of bushfires on Victorian communities.

• Initiatives to fast-track Victoria’s recovery from the 2019-20 Victorian bushfires
  $60.5m in 2021-22 ($104.4m/4 yrs) to assist communities affected by the Black Summer bushfires. This includes mental health support, legal aid and financial counselling.

• Zero and low emission vehicles: accelerating adoption
  $11.0m in 2021-22 ($46.1m/3 yrs) to introduce a $3,000 subsidy for zero emission vehicles for households and businesses.

• Building inclusive and safe communities for Victorians with disability
  Part of $8.1m in 2021-22 ($9.2m/4 yrs) to provide accessible communications for people with a disability during emergencies.

• Seizing the economic opportunity of a net zero, climate resilient state
  $5.0m in 2021-22 ($10m/2 yrs) to drive progress towards Victoria’s emissions reduction targets.

• More trees for a cooler, greener west
  $5.0m in 2021-22 to plant new trees in western Melbourne.

• Support for the expansion of the Victorian Energy Upgrades program
  $2.2m in 2021-22 ($7m/4 yrs) to deliver more subsidised energy efficiency upgrades for households and businesses.

Analysis

Communities impacted by the Black Summer bushfires are still struggling to recover and rebuild. These communities will benefit from investment in essential services to support their health and wellbeing. In 2021-22, $60.5m will be spent on initiatives in bushfire-affected areas including financial counselling, mental health support and legal aid. Part of the Government’s Good Money program will also continue pop-up stores in these regions to provide no-interest loans, low-cost insurance, and financial advice to households in need.

VCOSS supports the implementation of the Victorian Traditional Owner Cultural Fire Strategy to incorporate the expertise of Aboriginal cultural burning in bushfire preparedness.

It is also positive that the Government is investing in support for people with a disability to prepare for emergencies, as well as accessible communication during emergencies so people don’t miss out on urgent messages.

A gap in this Budget is funding for community service organisations to plan for emergencies. This would build the sector’s resilience during disasters and help staff members maintain business continuity. VCOSS also would have liked to see funding for a network of climate-resilient refuges for people to shelter from extreme heat and bushfire smoke.

The Budget was quiet on efforts to address and prepare for climate change, after the raft of announcements in 2020. VCOSS supports the planting of half a million trees in western Melbourne to reduce the impact of extreme heat and air pollution. Investment in zero emissions vehicles is also welcome, although it will be years before these announcements trickle down and make electric cars affordable for low-income households.

Various initiatives will support Victoria to reduce its emissions and reach its targets, but a missed opportunity is installing rooftop solar panels on public housing. This would lower residents’ energy bills and help them afford the running costs of the new reverse-cycle air-conditioners being rolled out to thousands of public housing properties as a result of last year’s Budget.

• Responding to community-based healthcare demand
  $78.3m in 2021-22 ($96.5m/4 yrs)
  Funding is provided to 12 women’s health services to meet growing demand for gender responsive healthcare, including prevention of family violence support services, women’s mental health and sexual and reproductive health services.
  
  Three new women’s sexual and reproductive health hubs will be established and the operating hours and scope of services at the eight existing hubs will be expanded. This initiative also supports community-based healthcare including catch-up care for dental services, cancer services, and maternal child health services to ensure clients who were unable to engage over the past 12 months receive the care they need.
  
  Increase in demand for alcohol and other drugs programs will be met by three new residential AOD treatment facilities, additional community-based counselling services and expanded forensic services.

• Support for victim survivors of family violence and sexual assault
  $21.9m in 2021-22 ($49m/4 yrs)
  Funding is provided to continue case management responses for victim survivors of family violence in emergency accommodation and for victim survivors of sexual assault, to extend family violence supports and services including sexual assault services, for state-wide 24/7 crisis services, flexible support packages, culturally safe responses for Aboriginal survivors, and case management and brokerage for women on temporary visas.

• Improving outcomes for women in Victoria: strengthening Victoria’s economic recovery through women’s participation
  $2.1m in 2021-22 ($4.2m/2 yrs)
  Funding is provided to establish a Gender Responsive Budgeting Unit within the Department of Treasury and Finance, working closely with the Office for Women to ensure outcomes for women are measured and considered as part of budget decision-making processes. This will embed gender impact analysis and understanding in the allocation of resources. The initiative will also deliver targeted economic security programs to support migrant and refugee women into employment.

• Specialist family violence integrated court response
  $10.1m in 2021-22 ($42.6m/4 yrs)
  Funding is provided to establish specialist family violence courts at the remaining Magistrates’ Courts, further acquitting the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Family Violence.

• Perpetrator accountability
  $12.8m in 2021-22 ($18.1m / 4 yrs)
  Funding has been allocated to enable family violence specialists to deliver perpetrator interventions and contribute to an increasing evidence base about what works to change behaviour and prevent violence, including delivering Men’s Behaviour Change programs.

• Responses for children and young people impacted by family violence and sexual assault
  $14.1m in 2021-22 ($44.1m / 4 yrs)
  Funding is provided to continue the statewide expansion of services to adolescents who use violence in the home, extend sexually abusive behaviour treatment services and provide sexual assault support services targeted to children and young people.

Analysis

The 2021-22 Budget invests $354 million to support victim survivors and address family violence. Funding will continue support for the operation of the Central Information Point, and support Phase 2 organisations to meet their obligations under the MARAM framework and Child and Family Violence Information Sharing Schemes. Funding has also been allocated to enable family violence specialists to deliver perpetrator interventions and Men’s Behaviour Change programs, which will contribute to an increasing evidence base about what works to change behaviour and prevent violence.

VCOSS is particularly pleased to see the establishment of a Gender Responsive Budgeting Unit within the Department of Treasury and Finance. This unit will help overcome the inequalities experienced by women by further embracing gender impact assessments, gender budgeting and gender auditing.

VCOSS welcomes the commitment to build three additional sexual and reproductive health hubs and the commitment to provide additional support for Victoria’s 12 women’s health services. We know that COVID had a disproportionate impact on women’s mental and physical health, as well as sexual and reproductive health, and these commitments will help ensure more women can access the tailored, gendered health information they need to effectively navigate Victoria’s health system.

While this Budget does provide some investment in the prevention of family violence, including $44 million to develop tools and resources to address the drivers of sexual violence in young people and the delivery of youth-focused programs that promote healthy relationships and community understanding of family violence, we know that more funding is needed if we are to stop violence before it starts.

Respect Victoria has identified that currently only 3 per cent of the family violence budget is spent on primary prevention. Victoria must commit to boost overall spending on family violence prevention to at least 10 per cent of the family violence budget to help change behaviour within families and the community so that we can all live free from violence.

Increased funding for the specialist family violence sector is also needed to meet rising levels of demand and ensure that services can cover higher operational costs, retain experienced staff and pay workers at a classification/level commensurate with their qualifications, knowledge and skills.

Victoria must do more to protect vulnerable residents from dangerous polluted air, as climate change worsens and the state’s population grows.

Air pollution is a danger to all people, but is a more severe threat to children and people already experiencing ill-health or disadvantage.

This includes people with pre-existing medical conditions, people who are homeless, those living in poor quality housing and residents of more barren (or less “leafy”) areas of Victoria.

In a submission to the Victorian Parliament’s Inquiry into Health Impacts of Air Pollution, VCOSS is calling for “urgent action to protect those most exposed and most susceptible to air pollution”.

VCOSS recommends the Victorian Government:

1. Builds extra air quality monitoring stations across the Melbourne suburbs and in major regional centres.
   
2. Does more to warn residents when local air is contaminated, including using the official Emergency Alert system.
   
3. Upgrades childcare centres, schools, aged care facilities, social housing properties and medical centres to better protect people from dangerous air.
   
4. Creates a network of local climate-adapted community facilities where people can seek refuge from polluted air.
   
5. Establishes more parks and plants more trees in low-income communities and areas with poor quality air, and
   
6. Funds community organisations to hand out free face masks, or provide other supports, in times in need.
   

Emma King, CEO, Victorian Council of Social Service:

“Nothing is more basic than a person’s right to breathe clean air.

“The air you breathe shouldn’t make you sick.

“With the world heating, Victoria must act now to protect vulnerable people from the worst effects of polluted air.“

Health and socio-economic status are linked. People on low-incomes are more likely to have a long-term health condition or chronic illness, and have a shorter life expectancy.

People from low-socio economic backgrounds, including children, are also less likely to participate in sport and recreation activities, potentially impacting their health and wellbeing.

There are a range of barriers to low-income families participating in sport and recreation, including cost of sport memberships and equipment, poor urban design and lack of green spaces in some local communities.

Close the equity gap in participation

We would welcome the Active Victoria strategy strengthening the focus on equity in Sport and Recreation Victoria’s role.

VCOSS recommends an additional measure of success for the strategy related to the gap between high-socioeconomic families and low-socioeconomic families participating in sport and recreation. If more people are physically active, but the increase is mainly in higher income households and areas, the inequity gap may grow.

Provide low-income communities space for sport and recreation

Access to green space is an important determinant of health. People are more likely to engage in physical activity if they have easy access to public parks and green spaces.

But where people live can determine their access to green space.

Melbourne has the lowest proportion of green cover of all Australian capital cities. Low-income households are disproportionately located in the areas with the least green space.iii Victorians who would gain the most from the wellbeing benefits provided by parks are most likely to miss out.

About 135,000 Melbourne households have little or no access to parks within 5km, which deprived around 340,000 Victorians of open space during the stage four COVID restrictions.

Investment in parks and recreational spaces should prioritise areas of Melbourne and regional Victoria with low green space to improve equity. The Victorian Government’s Pocket Parks program is a good example of a program supporting green space development in high density and priority areas.

Build on existing programs that encourage children to participate

Participating in extra curricular activities including sport can improve physical activity, mental health and social skills, as well as improve school attendance, academic achievement and social and emotional wellbeing.

However, families struggling to make ends meet and afford the costs of schooling struggle to pay for club memberships, equipment and other costs of sport and recreation.

The Victorian Government’s new Get Active voucher program is a welcome announcement and a great step. But the program still requires families to make purchases and then apply for reimbursement. This process excludes families without money to pay up-front.

Removing the need for up-front payments for approved purchases would allow the scheme to assist more Victorian children to get active. The scheme could also be extended to more children and other types of recreational activities, for children who would prefer alternatives to organised sport.

Makes sporting clubs and activities inclusive for all

Sporting clubs are about more than just physical activity. They can be important community hubs, providing people with a sense of belonging and contribute to people’s overall wellbeing.

They should be inclusive spaces, where everyone has the opportunity to participate and have a positive experience. But children and adults with disability are less likely to participate in sport related activities than other Victorians.

The Active Victoria strategy should focus on building inclusiveness of sports clubs and activities, through a range of mechanisms including improving accessibility, tackling stigma, developing mentoring programs, modifying programs and activities and identifying different ways community members can be involved.

Many public spaces and sporting facilities remain fully or partly inaccessible for people with disability, mobility needs and older people. Parks and recreation spaces will not promote community cohesion and inclusion if they are poorly planned, do not meet physical accessibility requirements, are hard to access via public transport, are poorly lit or make people feel unsafe.

Communities should be engaged and consulted in designing spaces. This will make sure spaces are inclusive and fit-for purpose while reflecting local need and matching the rhythms of community life.

Open schools and sporting facilities to the community

Community groups can struggle to find appropriate, accessible and affordable facilities to run programs or provide recreation activities.

Schools are already places where community members come together and
engage with each other. They often have sporting and recreation infrastructure.

Schools can capitalise on existing infrastructure by extending their use out of school hours to organised sport and recreation groups and local community organisations.

Sporting facilities, like ovals and clubrooms, could also be opened to the community outside of club hours. Some people also prefer individual activities, or alternatives to organised sport. Consideration should be given to taking this further to enable the use of facilities for unorganised sport and activities so members of the local community and those who are less likely to be part of a local group can gain access to community infrastructure

The Victorian Council of Social Service (VCOSS) is the peak body for the community services sector in Victoria. We advocate for a fair and equitable society by supporting the social service industry and representing the interests of Victorians facing disadvantage.

VCOSS welcomes the opportunity to provide input to the Environment and Planning Committee’s Inquiry into Health Impacts of Air Pollution in Victoria.

Air pollution is harming Victorians’ health and wellbeing and urgent action is required to protect the people most exposed and most susceptible. Communities must be alerted about hazardous air quality and be equipped to reduce their exposure.

Air pollution does not affect us equally

Air pollution kills around 4,880 people in Australia every year.[i] It impairs lung function, damages the cardiovascular system, and exacerbates asthma. Areas with poor air quality also have higher rates of diabetes, dementia, and mental illness.

The people most susceptible to health problems from air pollution are young children, older people, pregnant women, and people with heart or lung disease.[ii] The people most exposed include people working outdoors and people sleeping rough, without a home to shelter in.[iii]

People experiencing financial disadvantage are more vulnerable to air pollution because they are more likely to live in poor quality housing and have less ability to modify their environments, for example by draught proofing their homes or installing expensive high-efficiency particulate absorbing (HEPA) filter systems.[iv] Low-income households are also priced out of leafy suburbs where there is less traffic pollution and higher air quality.[v]

The location of industrial pollution is also inequitable. Low- to middle-income suburbs host 90 per cent of the facilities listed in the National Pollutant Inventory.[vi] In Victoria, industrial emissions are highest in the Latrobe Valley with AGL’s Loy Yang power station the primary contributor.[vii] An ExxonMobil oil refinery produces most of the industrial emissions in Altona, which has the highest industrial pollution in Melbourne.[viii]

Smoke is an emergency in itself

Bushfires and industrial fires pollute the air with hazardous particles that harm local communities with little warning. Air quality plummets at short notice and communities are often advised to stay indoors and limit outdoor exercise.

In Victoria, smoke from the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires was responsible for 120 deaths and around 1,300 hospital admissions for cardiovascular illness, respiratory disease, and asthma.[ix] Smoke irritation can also result in burning eyes, shortness of breath, and headaches.[x]

The West Footscray industrial fire sent a plume of toxic smoke over neighbouring suburbs in August 2018 after dangerous chemicals caught alight in a warehouse in Tottenham.[xi] Community members reported symptoms including nausea, repeated blood noses, and sore chests.[xii]

The Hazelwood Mine Fire burnt for 45 days in 2014 and exposed community members to smoke, ash, and carbon monoxide.[xiii] Local residents reported breathlessness, stinging eyes, and lethargy and felt anxious about the future health implications.[xiv]

“Community members would say ‘I’ve never had asthma but now I do’ or ‘I’m having trouble breathing’ or ‘I feel dizzy and my head is fuzzy’.”

Morwell community organisation[xv]

Provide targeted and appropriate communication

Recommendation

• Ensure communication with communities is clear, timely and accessible.
• Broaden the use of the Emergency Alert system.

The Inspector-General for Emergency Management (IGEM) reviewed the response to the West Footscray industrial fire and found that official communications did not address the community’s concern about their health and safety.[xvi] For example, residents were told not to worry about the smoke yet schools were closed and emergency personnel wore HAZMAT gear.[xvii]

This mirrors the experience of communities impacted by the Hazelwood Mine Fire. Residents were frightened by the thick smoke but a lack of information exacerbated their anxiety.[xviii] People wanted to understand the long-term implications for their health but were told the impact would only be minor and fleeting, leading to significant distrust within the community.[xix]

Communication during bushfires and industrial fires must address community concern by clearly outlining the potential health impacts of smoke and explaining how residents can minimise their exposure. Messages should be tailored to different at-risk cohorts to ensure that health advice is practical and meets specific needs.

Information must be easy to understand, translated into all necessary languages, and communicated through multiple channels. Apps and opt-in services are useful but need to be complemented by targeted communications for broad coverage, particularly so people with low digital literacy do not miss out.

The Emergency Alert System can also be utilised to improve communication about smoke.[xx] Although it is currently restricted to situations with a clear threat to life, alerts could provide an initial warning for all significant incidents and direct recipients to accurate sources of information. This was Recommendation 4 of the IGEM’s review of the West Footscray industrial fire.

“The Inspector-General for Emergency Management recommends that Emergency Management Victoria coordinate a review of the use of the Emergency Alert system in circumstances beyond the immediate threat to life. The review should consider how the system could be used to inform the impacted community of the emerging event and how to source information without compromising its effectiveness in life-threatening situations.”

Inspector-General for Emergency Management[xxi]

Provide safe shelter for people to escape smoke

Recommendation

• Build on the Big Housing Build.
• Create a network of climate-adapted community facilities.

Common health advice for communities affected by smoke is to shelter indoors with windows and doors closed.[xxii] People sleeping rough do not have this option, however, further highlighting the importance of addressing homelessness in Victoria. The Big Housing Build is a historic investment in social housing but needs to be extended so enough housing is built to ensure a safe home for all.

People also resort to sheltering from smoke in libraries and shopping centres but opening hours can be limited and they might be asked to leave by security. Infrastructure Victoria’s Draft 30-year Infrastructure Strategy addresses this issue by recommending the construction of public shelters built for a broader purpose.[xxiii]

“Create climate-adapted facilities for rural communities: In the next five years, fund local governments to plan and help deliver a network of designated, accessible climate-adapted community facilities, to manage the health impacts of extreme heat and bushfire smoke.”

Infrastructure Victoria[xxiv]

The network could begin in regional Victoria and expand to Melbourne. These safe facilities also need to be accessible and responsive to community need. For example, during the Black Summer bushfires, some evacuation centres were not accessible for people with disability or were chaotic, crowded, and challenging environments for people with mental illness. Some people sought shelter from the smoke but were turned away because they had not been made homeless by the bushfire itself.

Distribute facemasks

Recommendation

• Resource the community sector to provide protective facemasks to vulnerable households.

P2 and N95 facemasks protect people from smoke by filtering out fine air pollutants.[xxv] During the 2019-20 Black Summer bushfires, however, many community organisations were unable to source protective gear for vulnerable clients.[xxvi]

Community organisations should be provided with facemasks during emergencies to distribute to community members at risk. For example, Morwell Neighbourhood House was a designated collection point for P2 facemasks during the Hazelwood Mine Fire.[xxvii]

It should be noted that facemasks are only effective if they are fitted correctly and can make it harder to breathe due to the tight seal.[xxviii] Communication campaigns should include information about choosing a suitable facemask and wearing it correctly. Other types of protection should also be investigated so suitable alternatives can be provided if a facemask cannot be fitted properly, particularly for children, culturally diverse people, and people with facial hair. 

Air pollution is a daily hazard

Poor air quality is the norm for several communities in Victoria. There are 12 air pollution hot spots in Australia and four are located in Victoria: the Latrobe Valley in Gippsland, and Yarraville and Brooklyn in western Melbourne.[xxix]

Coal-fired power stations are the primary source of air pollution in the Latrobe Valley.[xxx] Yallourn and Loy Yang A are the second and third highest emitters of fine particulates in Australia. These energy generators also produce high levels of sulphur dioxide and mercury.

Concern about air quality has grown in the Latrobe Valley since the Hazelwood Mine Fire, however, with community members seeking more information about the impact of pollution on their health. Consultation by the Latrobe Health Advocate uncovered strong opposition to industrial developments that worsen local pollution.[xxxi]

“Community members say ‘we don’t want to be a sacrifice community anymore’. The narrative has changed. New industries have to be health-neutral because it’s no longer about jobs at all costs.”

Morwell community organisation[xxxii]

Meanwhile transport and industrial emissions are responsible for the poor air quality in western Melbourne.[xxxiii] The area is a hub of factories and warehouses and serves as a thoroughfare for commuters and diesel trucks between the CBD, the Port of Melbourne, and surrounding suburbs.

Communities in the inner western suburbs of Melbourne experience higher rates of pollution-related health problems including heart disease, asthma, and lung cancer.[xxxiv] For example, 20 per cent of students at Wembley Primary School are asthmatic, which is twice the national average.

“The burden of air pollution isn’t shared equally. Breathable air isn’t a privilege, it’s a right.”

Western Melbourne council[xxxv]

Reduce exposure to air pollution

Recommendation

• Upgrade childcare centres, schools, aged care facilities, and medical centres and keep them away from air pollution hot spots.
• Increase green space and tree cover in communities with lower average incomes and higher rates of air pollution.

Young children are susceptible to the health impacts of air pollution. But an analysis of 278 childcare centres in Melbourne found that nearly a quarter were within 150 metres of a major road.[xxxvi] This includes a centre located on an intersection used by 4,650 trucks a day and a centre situated 15 metres from an eight-lane highway.

Air pollution is not considered when building new childcare centres but stringent planning guidelines are needed to keep them away from major roads and industrial sites. Schools, aged care facilities, and medical centres should also be included.

Existing facilities near air pollution hots spots are not lost causes, however, and should be upgraded to limit exposure to the poor air quality outside. This includes adequate sealing, efficient air-conditioning, and air purifiers with a HEPA filter.[xxxvii]

Green space is another way to reduce communities’ exposure to air pollution. Trees absorb carbon dioxide and other pollutants and can act as a barrier when planted near major roads and industrial sites.[xxxviii]

For example, ‘Yarraville On the Nose’ is a community group reducing air pollution in West Yarraville by planting trees.[xxxix] The initiative began with $50,000 from the Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ‘Inspiring Environmental Solutions’ program and receives ongoing funding through penalties paid by companies found guilty of pollution.

Monitor the problem

Recommendation

• Increase the number of air quality monitoring sites across Victoria.
• Monitor air pollution at childcare centres, schools, aged care facilities, and medical centres.

The EPA’s public AirWatch website displays the hourly air quality at 26 standard monitoring sites across Victoria.[xl] This includes seven sites in the Latrobe Valley and three sites in western Melbourne. The Victoria Auditor-General Office deemed this insufficient, however, as did the Victorian Government’s Inner West Air Quality Community Reference Group.[xli]

“We recommend that the Environment Protection Authority expand its air monitoring network by …  designing and implementing an air monitoring program that better aligns coverage with air pollution risks that Victorian communities are exposed to.”

Victoria Auditor-General Office[xlii]

The number of monitoring sites must be increased across Victoria, particularly in communities near major roads, industrial sites, and freight corridors. Air quality should also be monitored at childcare centres, schools, aged care facilities, and medical centres near pollution hot spots.

Raise awareness of air pollution

Recommendation

• Alert communities about poor air quality and how to reduce their expose.
• Fund community health organisations and Aboriginal Community Controlled Organisations to improve awareness of air pollution and provide targeted advice.

Communities need to be notified about periods of high air pollution so they can limit their exposure and plan accordingly. Alert systems can be utilised to warn people about hazardous air quality and to provide advice about keeping safe. Residents can also be encouraged to check tools that display accessible and easy-to-understand information about local air pollution.

For example, the Latrobe Valley Information Network (LVIN) monitors air pollution and local weather conditions via 45 sensors.[xliii] The data is displayed on a website that allows users to easily check local air quality but a phone app also issues alerts when pollution is high.

Community health organisations and Aboriginal health services need to be funded to raise awareness about air pollution so residents know how to protect their health when air quality is poor. This includes advice such as checking air quality every morning, rescheduling outdoor exercise, and choosing a suitable facemask.

[i] Inner West Air Quality Community Reference Group, Air Pollution in Melbourne’s Inner West: Taking direct action to reduce our community’s exposure, March 2020.

[ii] Senate Community Affairs References Committee, Impacts on health of air quality in Australia, August 2013.

[iii] S Vardoulakis et al, Bushfire smoke: urgent need for a national health protection strategy, Medical Journal of Australia, February 2020.

[iv] ibid.

[v] United Nations Environment Programme, Air pollution hurts the poorest most, 9 May 2019: www.unep.org/news-and-stories/story/air-pollution-hurts-poorest-most

[vi] Australian Conservation Foundation, The dirty truth: Australia’s most polluted postcodes, November 2018.

[vii] ibid.

[viii] ibid.

[ix] N Borchers Arriagada et al, Unprecedented smoke-related health burden associated with the 2019-20 bushfires in eastern Australia, Medical Journal of Australia, September 2020.

[x] cohealth, Staying safe from bushfire smoke, accessed 7 April 2021: www.cohealth.org.au/news/staying-safe-from-bushfire-smoke

[xi] Inspector-General for Emergency Management, Report into the West Footscray Industrial Fire, August 2020.

[xii] J Kerr, Weeks on from Footscray inferno, illness continues to haunt Melbourne’s west, ABC News, 21 September 2018: www.abc.net.au/news/2018-09-19/west-footscray-inferno-epa-response/10263864

[xiii] Victorian Council of Social Service, Hazelwood Mine Fire Inquiry, May 2014.

[xiv] S Whyte, ‘They go into bat for me’: Morwell Neighbourhood House, the Hazelwood Mine Fire and Recovery, Centre of Research for Resilient Communities, Federation University, February 2017.

[xv] Consultation with a community organisation based in Morwell.

[xvi] IGEM, West Footscray Industrial Fire.

[xvii] ibid.

[xviii] VCOSS, Hazelwood Mine Fire.

[xix] ibid.

[xx] IGEM, West Footscray Industrial Fire.

[xxi] ibid, p14.

[xxii] S Vardoulakis et al, Bushfire smoke.

[xxiii] Infrastructure Victoria, Victoria’s Draft 30-Year Infrastructure Strategy, December 2020.

[xxiv] IV, Draft Infrastructure Strategy, p24.

[xxv] cohealth, Staying safe from bushfire smoke.

[xxvi] Victorian Council of Social Service, VCOSS submission to the Royal Commission into National Natural Disaster Arrangements, May 2020.

[xxvii] S Whyte, Morwell Neighbourhood House.

[xxviii] cohealth, Staying safe from bushfire smoke.

[xxix] Environmental Justice Australia, How to learn more about air pollution where you live, accessed 7 April 2021: www.envirojustice.org.au/our-work/community/air-pollution/hows-your-air

[xxx] M Slater, Latest data shows Latrobe Valley coal-fired power stations are some of Australia’s worst polluters, Latrobe Valley Express, 9 April 2020: www.latrobevalleyexpress.com.au/story/6718343/valleys-stations-high-on-pollution-rankings

[xxxi] Latrobe Health Advocate, Sharing the voice of Latrobe Communities: October to December 2019, January 2020.

[xxxii] Consultation with a community organisation based in Morwell.

[xxxiii] IWAQCRG, Air Pollution in Melbourne’s Inner West.

[xxxiv] ibid.

[xxxv] Consultation with a local council in western Melbourne.

[xxxvi] C Walter, Traffic pollution near childcare centres in Melbourne, Australian and New Zealand Journal of Public Health, July 2019.

[xxxvii] S Vardoulakis et al, Bushfire smoke.

[xxxviii] E Stewart, New city parks are a breath of fresh air, The Age, 3 February 2019: www.theage.com.au/national/victoria/new-city-parks-are-a-breath-of-fresh-air-20190201-p50v3i.html

[xxxix] IWAQCRG, Air Pollution in Melbourne’s Inner West.

[xl] Environmental Protection Authority Victoria, About EPA AirWatch, accessed 7 April 2021: www.epa.vic.gov.au/for-community/monitoring-your-environment/about-epa-airwatch

[xli] Victorian Auditor-General’s Office, Improving Victoria’s Air Quality, March 2018.

IWAQCRG, Air Pollution in Melbourne’s Inner West.

[xlii] VAGO, Improving Victoria’s Air Quality, p15.

[xliii] Department of Infrastructure, Transport, Regional Development and Communications, The Latrobe Valley Information Network (LVIN), accessed 7 April 2021: www.infrastructure.gov.au/cities/smart-cities/collaboration-platform/Latrobe-Valley-Sensor-Network.aspx

Victorian social service agencies are bracing for a spike in requests for help, as temporary measures introduced to support people during COVID-19 are wound back.

The Federal Government is ending the JobKeeper wage replacement scheme and cutting the national unemployment benefit, JobSeeker. 
At the same time, a state ban on rental evictions is ending and most rent relief payments will also cease.

VCOSS CEO Emma King said Victoria was heading into choppy, uncharted waters.

“These are big changes, all happening at once and at a time of great uncertainty,” she said.

“Nobody quite knows how this will play out.”

“The one sad certainty is there will be more people out of work, in financial distress and struggling to pay their rent, buy food and afford the basics.”

“This is going to be brutal and bruising for many Victorians.”

“VCOSS members are bracing for a fresh wave of requests for help, after what’s already been an extremely challenging 12 months.”

Ms King said there was some good news in Victoria, with long-planned changes to rental laws also about to take effect, providing some extra protections for tenants.

“These simple yet significant changes are extremely welcome. They will help level the playing field between tenants and landlords.”

Ms King labelled the Federal Government as “heartless and foolish” for cutting JobSeeker.

“JobSeeker is designed to put a floor under people, so they don’t slip into poverty.”

“But the new rate of JobSeeker will push people below the poverty line, driving them into extreme hardship.”

“The Federal Government is essentially telling thousands of Australians that they don’t deserve to eat decent meals or stay warm in winter. That’s just wrong.”

The Federal Government is essentially telling thousands of Australians that they don’t deserve to eat decent meals or stay warm in winter. That’s just wrong.

She is encouraging anybody experiencing distress to ask help.

“Contact your energy retailers, talk to your landlord, reach out to your local community support organisation.”

“There are people and organisations there to help you.”

“Equally, if you know somebody in distress please ask if they’re okay and help refer them to a support service.”

“We need to look out for ourselves and our community,” Ms King said.

Quick stats

• 388,986 Victorians currently receive JobKeeper.
• Nationally, up to 250,000 people are forecast to lose their job when JobKeeper ends. 
• 338,725 Victorians already receive JobSeeker/Youth Allowance.
• On April 1, JobSeeker will be cut from $51/day to $44/day (for individuals)