Centrelink queues shocked Australians but long before COVID-19 Western Sydney had job-poor neighbourhoods with very high unemployment rates.
Loren Elliott/AAP
Western Sydney's growth-driven boom had ended before COVID-19 hit. Some neighbourhood unemployment rates were 2-3 times the metropolitan average, with female workforce participation as low as 43%.
Young people from working class backgrounds in socially deprived areas are far less likely to choose, or have the opportunity, to study languages at secondary school, than their more affluent peers.
Children in suburbs with low levels of education and employment and high rates of poverty and crime are also missing out on the experiences that help make upwards social mobility possible.
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Children growing up in the most disadvantaged suburbs also lack the social opportunities to develop skills and aspirations that would improve their prospects in life.
Gardens bring people together.
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Australian cities generally minimise negative attributes such as crime, segregation and violence, but developing positive attributes such as inclusivity appears more challenging.
Women have further abortions are not treating it "like contraception" but have good reasons that are often beyond their control
While state investment decreases on average with distance from the CBD, Melbourne’s neediest suburbs aren’t forgotten.
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The neediest suburbs get a much poorer deal in Sydney than in Melbourne. A new study provides a suburb-by-suburb breakdown of state investment, including what facilities and services have been funded.
It can be a tough time for children going through the physical and emotional changes of puberty. And if they enter puberty early, the health impacts can stay with them for life.
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Shape-shifting bodies. Cracking voices. Hairs sprouting in new places. Why do some children enter puberty early?
Migrants can no longer afford to live in the ‘gateway’ suburbs that once helped them to leave the ranks of the ‘disadvantaged’ and feel at home in their new country.
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With the winding back of government support for housing, 'gateway' suburbs that have in the past accepted and supported recent immigrants are becoming increasingly unaffordable.
Grammar schools are not the answer.
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New research finds almost a million Australians are living in poor or very poor-quality housing, with more than 100,000 in dwellings regarded as very poor or derelict.
Where you live affects your health and life expectancy. This makes it possible to map health outcomes against train stations, so that you can readily see the inequalities across cities like Melbourne.
Universities need to take major steps to redress inequality through access to education and work.
AAP/Julian Smith
Rather than redressing inequality, universities are exacerbating it. They need to take radical steps to turn this around and offer better education across the socio-economic spectrum.
Not everyone has access to the internet, even today.
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There are still many Australians who don't have regular access to the internet. We must do more to bridge the digital divide and accommodate a diversity of technologies.
Students’ expectations can determine their future.
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The Conversation is running a series, Class in Australia, to identify, illuminate and debate its many manifestations. Here, Nicholas Biddle outlines how students’ low aspirations can lead to poor outcomes…
A report has found 34% of young people serving a community-based order and 66% in custody have a substance abuse problem.
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Disabled people are severely marginalised and among the poorest in developing countries. Having a disability increases the risk of poverty, and being poor also increases the risk of getting a disability…
Associate Professor, Centre for Urban Transitions and Director, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute Swinburne Research Centre, Swinburne University of Technology