In Anti-Poverty Week support poor people not poverty profiteers
In Anti-Poverty Week support poor people not poverty profiteers
Another year, another Anti-Poverty Week, and still the poverty industry fails to prioritise the expertise of people in poverty. It's exhausting for poor people to watch the circus of charity CEOs deciding what's best for us, cherry picking who deserves help and dominating the media yet again.
Included below: How to support welfare activists and people in poverty; crisis line contact information.
More than 2 years on from Albanese coming to power, giving many people in poverty false hope that life would improve on the promise of "no one left behind", welfare recipients in our communities are feeling demoralised and run down. While most professional advocates still continue to exclude us, the Antipoverty Centre and our comrades at the Australian Unemployed Workers' Union, Anti-Poverty Network South Australia and Anti-Poverty Network Queensland are doing the work: supporting and caring for our communities, online and offline, and working together to advocate for ourselves.
Actions you can take in Anti-Poverty Week and all year round:
Get involved with grassroots groups and mutual aid projects in your area.
Give money to poor people who need it and the organisations run by and for us, not corporate charities. You can donate to the Antipoverty Centre here; the AUWU here; APN SA here and APN Qld here.
If you work at a charity or an organisation involved in welfare advocacy, get in touch with us via team at antipovertycentre.org to find out how we work with professional advocates to help them incorporate the expertise of people directly affected by poverty in what they do.
Share the links below about how to participate in what we do.
Thank you to welfare recipients for all your contributions to the fight against poverty, large or small, and to allies for supporting grassroots welfare activists.
Pay the Rent
Regardless of income level, everyone whose ancestors came to this continent after Invasion benefits everyday from the stolen wealth of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. The most harmful welfare policies target First Nations communities, and structural racism disproportionately harms First Nations people in all walks of life. In addition to supporting Blak sovereignty movements, you can support First Nations people by paying the rent financially or in other ways.
Visit the PtR website for information: https://paytherent.net.au/faq/
Donate and share to support the 2025 National People Against Poverty Summit
Our organisations are working together to put on a conference by and for people in poverty early next year. The conference will be open to everyone and we'll be running sessions and workshops about the context we're living in and our vision for a just society, activism, campaigning and mutual aid. We want to include as many welfare recipients as possible from around the continent.
Contribute here only if you can comfortably afford to do so or share the link to help make it happen: https://gofund.me/40ac589d
EVENT: Join the webinar on the Repeat Failure report
The Antipoverty Centre will be participating in a webinar to discuss Anglicare's recent report looking at how the government evaluates the success of "mutual" obligations and (un)employment services at 2pm on Tuesday 15 October.
Register here: https://bit.ly/RepeatFailure
Share articles by welfare recipients on Power to Persuade
Twice a year the Power to Persuade blog is hosted by organisations led by people in poverty. This gives us an opportunity to platform the views and expertise of people who are excluded from conversations about our own lives, and to pay people for their work. Follow these links to read and share past articles published by the Antipoverty Centre and the Australian Unemployed Workers' Union on the blog, and look out for new articles we'll be sharing on social media over the coming week.
PEOPLE ON LOW INCOMES: If you'd like to contribute an article, email team at antipovertycentre.org us know what topic or issue you want to write about.
Read the Australian Unemployed Workers' Union investigation into payslip harassment
The AUWU supports countless people being harassed by (un)employment services providers for payslips by job agencies who did nothing to help them find paid work. They recently published an investigation of provider and government claims that this is not a widespread problem and exposed employment department lies. Read it here:
WELFARE RECIPIENTS: If you're having a problem with bullying, harassment or any other issue related to "mutual" obligations, contact the AUWU helpline on 1800 289 848 (1800 AUWU4U).
EVENT: Get involved with the Anti-Poverty Network Queensland mutual aid kitchen
APN Qld helps run a regular mutual aid kitchen at Musgrave Park in Magan-djin for rough sleepers and anyone in the community who wants to join in. Go along for a feed every Friday from 6:30–8:30pm.
If you are interested in helping out with supplies, prep or serving up dinner, fill out this form and APN volunteers will be in touch: https://forms.gle/FbiLEGcUzgxaPiDB8
MEETING: Join the Anti-Poverty Network South Australia Campaigns Team
APN SA is holding its regular campaigns meeting at 4pm ACDT today (Sunday 13 October).
If you live in South Australia and are interested in getting involved, join the meeting via Zoom or sign up for information about future events here: https://apn-sa.org/contact-us/
Contribute to our housing quality survey
The Antipoverty Centre is gathering information about the experiences and priorities of people on all income levels about quality, safety and cost pressures related to housing.
If you haven't shared your experiences already, visit this link to access the in-depth survey: https://bit.ly/HousingQuality
Crisis support and counselling services
If you need support you can seek guidance, counselling or crisis help from the below organisations or talk to someone you trust.
Suicide Call Back Service – general: 1300 659 467
Roses in the Ocean – peer support: 1800 777 337
SANE Australia – general: 1800 187 263
13YARN – for First Nations people: 13 92 76
National Counselling and Referral Service – for disabled people: 1800 421 468
Headspace – for young people: 1800 650 890
QLife – fo LGBTQIA+ people: 1800 184 527
Full Stop – for people who have experienced sexual harassment and assault: 1800 385 578
Embrace Mental Health – multilingual service: embracementalhealth.org.au
MensLine – for men: 1300 789 978
Brother to Brother – for First Nations men: 1800 435 799
About the Antipoverty Centre
The Antipoverty Centre was established in 2021 by people living on Centrelink payments to counter problems with academics, think tanks and others in the political class making harmful decisions on behalf of people they purport to represent.
We have deep expertise in poverty, disadvantage and unemployment, because we live it. Our goal is to help ensure the voices and rights of people living in poverty are at the centre of social policy development and discourse. We believe there should be no decision made about us without us.
The Antipoverty Centre is not aligned with any political party and does not accept funding that places political constraints on our work.
Sign up to receive updates from the Antipoverty Centre in your inbox as soon as they are published, or you can follow our work on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube.
