Agent TypeOrganisationActivities & OccupationsGovernment inquiriesHistoryIn 1966, under the direction of Henderson, the Melbourne University Institute of Applied Economic and Social Research began Australia’s first systematic attempt at measuring poverty in Australia by estimating the extent of poverty in the city of Melbourne. Following this, a Commission of Inquiry into Poverty was set up in August 1972 by the Liberal Prime Minister William McMahon, with Henderson appointed as Chair. The Whitlam Government elected later that year expanded the size of the Inquiry and its scope, giving it specific responsibility to focus on the extent of poverty in Australia together with the groups most at risk of experiencing poverty, the income needs of those living in poverty, and issues relating to housing and welfare services. These issues were addressed in the Commission’s first main report, “Poverty in Australia,” which was released in August 1975. In this report, Henderson sought to identify the extent of poverty in Australia in terms of inadequate income relative to need. Any family with incomes below what was considered as representative of an ‘austere’ standard of living, widely known as the Henderson poverty line, was considered to be living in poverty. The poverty line was set at a benchmark income of $62.70 for the September quarter 1973, which was around the value of the basic wage plus child endowment (an earlier version of family allowance), for a reference family of two-adults with two children based. Adjustments were then made for other household types. An important feature of the work of the Commission of Inquiry into Poverty was the public release of a wide range of research studies examining different aspects of poverty in Australia organised around the topics of law and poverty, education and poverty, poverty and mental illness, poverty and disability, and, consumer protection and poverty. These research reports formed the basis of subsequent main reports of the Commission.
Source: http://melbourneinstitute.com/labour/research-topics/Poverty_and_social_exclusion.html (as edited)
Commission of Inquiry into Poverty (1972-1975). University of Melbourne Archives, accessed 10/12/2025, https://archives.library.unimelb.edu.au/nodes/view/59666
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