This report documents the impacts of high inflation, rising energy costs and low housing affordability, which are key drivers of financial hardship for Queensland households. Low-income households are spending most of their income on basic goods and services, such as food, housing and energy, with...

This report examines patterns and trends for different groups of households to better identify the risk factors and early signs of hardship, appropriate support to vulnerable consumers, and whether current safeguards are providing key factors that contribute to effective hardship policy and practice.

Many people in Australia struggle to afford the energy they need for their wellbeing. This report investigates the scale of the problem of energy stress and identifies policy implications.

Of the 2% of community-dwelling people aged 65 and older in Australia who reported experiencing financial abuse in the AIFS 2021 Survey of Older People, the most common form of financial abuse is being pressured into giving or loaning money, possessions or property.

This research paper was commissioned by the St Vincent de Paul Society National Council of Australia Inc. as an initiative to help address the growing gap between ‘the haves’ and ‘the have nots’ in Australia. The paper proposes three simple policy proposals designed to improve...

This report provides the latest examination of the prevalence of poverty within Australia, how this has changed over time, and which groups in society face the greatest risks of financial hardship and material deprivation.

This research focuses on the intersection of economic insecurity and women’s experiences of intimate partner violence (IPV) in the context of the COVID-19 pandemic in Australia.

This report highlights the critical role played by all Geelong Financial Inclusion Action Plan (FIAP) members, over the past 18 months, in addressing the issues of financial stress and hardship affecting the local communities.

This third paper in the 'Financial Lives in Uncertain Times' series explores trends in financial wellbeing during the fleeting period of recovery between the pandemic-related lockdowns of 2020 and 2021.

This document explores ‘what does it mean to thrive?' for people with a lived experience of financial hardship.

From April to September 2020, Good Shepherd commissioned Roy Morgan to investigate a group of working Australians that they have termed the ‘new vulnerable’. This report provides in-depth analysis of these people, and their experience of navigating support systems to address their needs arising from...

The COVID-19 pandemic has been challenging - with young people particularly affected. For policy-makers to get to grips with what appears to be a cost of living crisis for young people, this report recommends that the UK government makes tackling this issue an urgent priority.

This policy paper outlines how economic insecurity, unemployment, or concern about becoming unemployed, are key drivers of mental distress for all Australians.

This report calls for a coordinated response to address systemic factors that have created and continue to perpetuate financial hardship and poor financial wellbeing among Australians.

This paper explores the impacts of the COVID-19 crisis and resulting policy responses on financial wellbeing.

In recent years, the Victorian Ombudsman has heard concerns from ratepayers, financial counsellors and community lawyers about the way local councils treat people who cannot afford their council rates. This investigation focused on council hardship relief for homeowners (ratepayers who cannot pay rates on their...

This fact sheet outlines the ways in which Australian young people with disability (aged 15 to 24 years) experience disadvantage in many areas of their lives.

This research finds that inadequate social security payments play a significant role in shaping poverty and financial stress trends in Australia. It also finds that it is possible to address these challenges by increasing the overall social security budget.

This report shows that financial wellbeing in Australia improved in the two years before the COVID-19 crisis, but not all groups experienced the same improvements.

This research investigates the mental and economic wellbeing of landlords and tenants affected by the COVID-19 pandemic. For landlords and tenants that have lost employment, had reduced income, or are seeking employment, the pandemic leaves a challenging financial situation for meeting rent or mortgage payments.

This report explores people's responses to the financial impact of COVID-19 and their concerns about their current and future financial situations.

The COVID-19 pandemic has halted economic activity worldwide, hurting firms and pushing many of them toward bankruptcy. This paper discusses four central issues that have emerged in the academic and policy debates related to business financing during the downturn.

The 100 Families WA COVID-19 report presents experiences of the COVID-19 pandemic, its restrictions, and its early economic and social impacts among 158 family members in the study who completed a supplementary COVID-19 survey between May and July 2020.

This fact sheet discusses how the key fiscal policy responses of the Australian federal and state governments have tried to address the impact of the pandemic on financial wellbeing.

The Essential Services Commission regularly collects data on the Victorian energy market. This report considers ordinary data from January to March 2020, and also includes more recent data collected on the impact of the coronavirus on energy consumers.