Category Archives: Inequality

Australia’s 178 billionaires are $25.7bn richer than last year as 3.7 million live in poverty

Posted on by

Oxfam finds the 20 richest Australians now hold more wealth than the bottom 3 million households

The wealth of Australia’s billionaires increased by $25.67bn in the past year, equivalent to almost $50,000 a minute, according to new Oxfam Australia analysis of the 2026 Australian Financial Review Rich List.

The anti-poverty organisation said the total wealth of Australian billionaires in 2026 has reached more than $686bn, while Acoss figures show 3,706,000 people live in poverty, including 757,000 children under 15 years.

Continue reading...

David Lammy chairs first meeting of board set up to improve diversity among judiciary

Posted on by

Exclusive: Move to establish board comes after criticism that Lammy’s plan to slash jury trials will lead to increase in racial and class bias

David Lammy and the most senior judge in England and Wales are drawing up plans to accelerate the recruitment of minority ethnic and working-class solicitors into the judiciary.

A new judicial and legal diversity board, chaired by Lammy, who is the first black lord chancellor, and Sue Carr, the lady chief justice, has met for the first time to discuss removing barriers for diverse candidates attempting to join the judiciary.

Continue reading...

Federal budget 2026 winners and losers: rich families, overseas travellers and illegal tobacco – summary

Posted on by

Taxpayers and first home buyers are the winners in Labor’s 2026 budget, while rich families could be among the losers. Find out who is better off and who is worse off in Chalmers’ budget

Being a winner or a loser from the federal budget can be the difference between hundreds of dollars – or tightening your belt even further.

Tuesday’s federal budget comes at a strange time. Donald Trump is waging a war on Iran that is impacting fuel supplies globally, including Australia. Inflation is still causing havoc on household budgets. Government programs are costing more than ever.

Continue reading...

Horrified Wagga residents call for proper sanitation at homeless camp where baby was found dead

Posted on by

Tent where twins were born up to a 15-minute walk away from nearest public toilets or running water

The tent where a newborn baby was found dead at Wagga beach at the weekend was part of a homeless encampment up to a 15-minute walk away from the nearest public toilets or running water, with residents in a nearby apartment block saying conditions were “worse than a Syrian war camp”.

The tragedy has prompted fury in the community, with residents of Wagga Wagga calling on authorities to take urgent action to make the encampments safe and sanitary.

Continue reading...

‘This has to be a wake-up call’: NSW attorney general urged to order inquest into death of Sydney’s ‘birdman’

Posted on by

Alex Greenwich says inquest crucial to understand what failures led to Bikram Lama’s death and avoid similar deaths

The New South Wales attorney-general, Michael Daley, has been urged to order an inquest into the death of Nepali rough sleeper Bikram Lama in Hyde Park.

The death of Lama – who was also known as “the birdman” for his love of the area’s pigeons – has prompted widespread calls for change, after Guardian Australia revealed last week that the young migrant’s body lay unnoticed for up to a week in bushes near a busy thoroughfare into St James station.

Continue reading...

When Suzuki met Suzuki: why a Tokyo dating agency is matching couples with the same name

Posted on by

Japan’s ban on married couples having different surnames has prompted an event to highlight people’s reluctance to change their name

At the very least, the three men and three women calming their nerves on a Friday evening at a venue in Tokyo know they have one thing in common.

Spaced out across booths, they will soon be placed in pairs and given 15 minutes to get to know one another.

Continue reading...

Bay Area’s poverty soared, data shows, as California’s top earners saw windfalls

Posted on by

Poverty rate jumped from 12.2% to 16.3% in 2023 in state, Tipping Point Community report finds

Newly released data found that the San Francisco Bay Area’s poverty rate soared from 12.2% to 16.3% in 2023, with an approximate total 1.02 million residents in this six-county region considered impoverished by year’s end.

Another 12.5% of residents – about 790,000 people – hovered on the brink of poverty, meaning that about three in 10 Bay Area residents struggled to cover basic expenses.

Continue reading...

UK to reconsider decision to deny Waspi women pension payouts

Posted on by

Millions born in 1950s lost out because of government failings over changes to state retirement age, campaigners say

Millions of “Waspi women” have been given fresh hope that they might receive compensation after the UK government announced it would revisit a decision to deny them payouts.

As many as 3.6 million women born in the 1950s are said to have lost out because of government failings in the way changes to the state pension age were made, prompting the Waspi (Women Against State Pension Inequality) campaign to launch in 2015.

Continue reading...

Centrelink threatening payment suspensions at rate of five a minute, new analysis suggests

Posted on by

Exclusive: As jobseekers continue to have payments suspended, advocates call for the regime to be stopped until it’s proven to be lawful

Centrelink has been issuing payment suspension notices to jobseekers and those on disability support pensions at a rate of more than five a minute, new analysis suggests, amid concerns over the legality of the troubled system.

In total, government data collated by the Antipoverty Centre shows there were 2,683,605 suspension actions between June 2024 and July 2025.

Continue reading...

America’s super-rich are running down the planet’s safe climate spaces, says Oxfam

Posted on by

Exclusive: Data shows wealthiest 0.1% of the US burn carbon at 4,000 times the rate of the world’s poorest 10%

The US’s super-rich are burning through carbon emissions at 4,000 times the speed of the world’s poorest 10%, according to an analysis provided to the Guardian.

These billionaires and multimillionaires, who comprise the wealthiest 0.1% of the US population, are also running down our planet’s safe climate space at 183 times the rate of the global average.

Continue reading...

Revealed: some Australians have overpaid their Centrelink debt by more than $20,000

Posted on by

Exclusive: Services Australia spokesperson says automatic BPay payments and Centrelink being unable to contact customers may be to blame

Approximately 44,000 Australians who have a debt with Centrelink have overpaid it, some by $20,000 or more, Guardian Australia can reveal.

It is the latest in a string of scandals to hit Centrelink after hundreds of thousands of people had their payments illegally cancelled, with several reviews concluding the welfare system is not working legally and the government announcing plans to undertake at least three remediation processes for separate issues – the robodebt class action, income apportionment and overpaid debts.

Continue reading...

Lifetime of earnings not enough for UK workers to join wealthiest 10%, report says

Posted on by

Research finds it would take average worker saving all their earnings for 52 years to match wealth of richest 10th of society

It would take the average earner in the UK 52 years’ worth of earnings to become as wealthy as the richest 10%, according to new research by the Resolution Foundation.

In a new report, the influential thinktank analyses the Office for National Statistics’ latest wealth and assets survey, which covers the Covid pandemic period of 2020-22.

Continue reading...

New UK civil service internship scheme open only to working-class students

Posted on by

Minister says programme will help ensure Whitehall has ‘broadest range of talent and truly reflects the country’

A new civil service internship scheme will be open only to working-class students as part of a drive to make Whitehall better reflect the country, the government has said.

The programme will give students from lower-income backgrounds the chance to apply for paid government placements. The definition of working class will be based on what jobs were held by their parents when the applicant was 14 and replaces an existing programme open to all.

Continue reading...

Training organisation criticised for using chatbots to run job seeker course

Posted on by

Duke Education says their course uses ‘chat-style delivery’ to deliver classes on writing emails and identifying hazards but does not utilise artificial intelligence

A training organisation co-run by a vice-president of the Collingwood football club has been criticised for using chatbots to help teach a course to adult job seekers.

Duke Education, a registered training organisation (RTO), offers a certificate III in community services. A chatbot takes students through some of the coursework, such as how to write an email and recognise hazard signs.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Minority ethnic and deprived children more likely to die after UK intensive care admission

Posted on by

Study shows such young people have higher risk of arriving at paediatric ICU severely ill and have worse outcomes

Minority ethnic children and children from deprived backgrounds across the UK are more likely to die following admission to intensive care than their white and more affluent counterparts, a study has found.

These children consistently had worse outcomes following their stay in a paediatric intensive care unit (PICU), the research by academics at Imperial College London discovered.

Continue reading...

More trials with no jury will disadvantage people of colour, campaigners warn

Posted on by

Charities say more judge-only trials in England and Wales could lead to more miscarriages of justice

Removing the right to a jury trial for more offences would disadvantage people of colour and other minorities and lead to more miscarriages of justice, reformers have warned.

Sir Brian Leveson’s independent review of the criminal courts in England and Wales is expected to be published this week and recommend the creation of intermediate courts, sitting without a jury, to try some offences.

Continue reading...

Australia’s life expectancy gap narrows but men in disadvantaged areas dying almost seven years earlier

Posted on by

Major causes of death contributing to inequality are lung cancer, respiratory illness and heart disease, ANU researchers say

Australia has made progress in reducing socioeconomic inequalities in life expectancy but men living in disadvantaged areas are still dying almost seven years earlier, a new report from the Australian National University has found.

The study’s lead author and ANU demographer, Sergey Timonin, said the gaps in life expectancy between the most advantaged and disadvantaged areas stopped widening just before the Covid pandemic began and did not significantly worsen during the lockdown years.

Sign up for Guardian Australia’s breaking news email

Continue reading...

Number of vape shops in England rises by almost 1,200% in a decade

Posted on by

Research also shows deprived areas have up to 25 times as many bookmakers and pawnbrokers as affluent high streets

The number of vape shops on high streets across England has increased by almost 1,200% over the past decade, while deprived areas have up to 25 times as many bookmakers and pawnbrokers as affluent ones, according to research.

In 2014, only 33.8% of 317 local authorities in England had a vape shop, rising to 97.2% in 2024. Similarly, in 2014 less than 1% of local authorities in England had 10 or more vape shops, rising to 28% in 2024.

Continue reading...

London dominates England’s social mobility league with top 20 places

Posted on by

Sutton Trust ‘opportunity index’ measured factors such as children on free school meals passing key GCSEs

The top 20 constituencies with the best social mobility in England are all in London, according to research from a leading education charity that underscores the stark regional divide in children’s life chances.

In a report published on Thursday, the Sutton Trust has put together an “opportunity index” by analysing six measures of mobility. These include the share of children on free school meals who achieve passes in GCSE maths and English; who complete a degree by age 22; and who make it into the top 20% of earners by age 28.

Continue reading...

‘The posh areas get cleared’: bin strikes illustrate Birmingham’s wealth gap

Posted on by

People in poorer areas feel frustrated rubbish piles up during strikes, while wealthy households pay for removal

“It’s very frustrating that the posh areas get cleared and we’re just left, very frustrating but we expect it,” said Peter Thomas, outside his home in Ladywood, against a backdrop of overflowing bins.

Across neighbouring postcodes in Birmingham, the gap between wealthy and deprived parts of the city has been noticeable for residents ever since the bin strikes began last month.

Continue reading...