The 2018 State of the Family report explores attitudes towards people experiencing poverty. It also reflects on what these attitudes mean for how we as advocates communicate and persuade.
The real story: What Australians think about poverty and how we shape the debate features a literature review on poverty in Australia at Chapter 1, the results of a nationally representative survey of attitudes at Chapter 2, and a language analysis drawn from the Anglicare Australia Network at Chapter 3.
We have also included a series of stories or ‘portraits’ where people who use our network’s services describe, in their own words, their experiences of poverty. These are featured throughout Chapter 3.
The overarching finding from this study has been that attitudes are not fixed. They are shaped and reshaped through persuasion and debate. It also shows that Australians are more sympathetic to those in poverty then even they realise.