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New rich, new poor: as Australia gets richer, younger generations are failing to scale the ladder of opportunity. Stuart Braun investigates the plight of Australia's new poor.

Article Excerpt
A decade of economic growth has been good for many Australians. House prices have doubled. Wages have spiralled. Equity markets continue to ride record highs. Ordinary Australians have grown rich. But others have missed out altogether.

In 2004, Paul Keating signalled a worrying trend in Australia: the emergence of what he termed the 'new poor'. He described them as:

... a group who get along in the world without institutional loyalties, without lifetime employment, who have to pay for education, who live life in nodules of employment, who are locked out of property, who are slated to rent often sub-standard accommodation, who are weary of marriage and financial obligation, who watched the wealthy get wealthier and ... rely more or less on the camaraderie of mutual friends in similar circumstances.' This is a 'new problem' in Australia.

Two years on, Keating's definition has shown remarkable prescience. A raft of statistics and reports indicate that home-ownership and job security--the twin pillars of the post-war Australian dream so fervently espoused during the Howard years--are no longer a reality for many twenty, thirty and even...

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