No lies, no inventions - poverty in Australia is awfully real

Maybe the people who don't believe there is poverty in Australia simply have no way ofconceptualising what that poverty here is like.So often the poor are victims of bad, dumb luck, as powerful and unassailable as any flood orearthquake.Let's take 38-year-old Harry as an example.Harry was raised in foster care and was sexually abused between the ages of six and 12. Hewas too traumatised to finish school and left half-way through year 7. By the age of 18, Harrywas living on the streets; after repeated bashings, he started sniffing paint to try to mask histroubles. He doesn't do this now, but through sniffing, Harry has sustained a brain injury thathas affected his memory.Harry's income is $292 a week, which is the combined total of a Newstart Allowance and rentassistance. He rents a room in a privately run rooming house for $185 a week. He shares abathroom with two dozen others and has no kitchen facilities.After paying rent, Harry has just $15 a day to live off, for all his food, transport, clothing andmedication costs.Harry would love to have his own flat somewhere but he is unable to raise the $1500 it wouldcost to pay bond and up-front rent.All Harry owns are two sets of clothes, a coffee mug, a small radio and a cigarette lighter.When broke, Harry has to scour the street for cigarette butts.He knows smoking is bad, but it's one of the few things in life he is able to enjoy. Giving upis inconceivable for him.Who's going to tell Harry to go "get a job"? Who would argue that he has enough to live on?Is there really anyone out there who would call Harry's life easy?The Newstart Allowance or unemployment benefit was in the sights of the OECD's EconomicSurvey late last year. Our unemployment payments were described as the relative lowest of30 OECD nations. The organisation called for the Australian government to increase theallowance so that people like Harry don't continue to be caught in poverty traps.There are thousands of people in Harry's situation all over Australia. Some are wrestling withchildhood trauma. Others have intellectual disabilities. Most of them have very limitededucation and few skills to offer in our increasingly complex job market. Transcending theirsituation is not possible without extensive government help and equally resolute communitysupport.National data collected under both Labour and Liberal governments reveal there are morethan 105,000 Australians living homeless or in marginal accommodation like Harry on anygiven night. This data isn't invented: it's awfully factual.