Life is pretty good in Australia, or at least that’s the impression most of us would have, and compared with many countries in the world, it would be true. And yet, the latest figures show us that nearly 3 million Australians live in poverty, including 730,000 children. 

This figure came to my attention as I read the Australian Bishops’ Social Justice Statement for 2017-18, entitled ‘Everyone’s Business: Developing an inclusive and sustainable economy’, which challenges us to always keep people at the centre of the economy.

The Bishops’ Statement, which was released ahead of Social Justice Sunday last week, draws from the Gospel, and the teachings of Pope Francis and his predecessors, highlighting how extreme versions of free-market economics have failed to serve all.

“Inequality has been growing in Australia. Many have missed out on opportunities to secure stable employment and a just share in income and wealth – even after 26 years of continuous economic growth,” they say.

“When it comes to the social justice of the entire economic system, we draw on new understandings of human development from economics and social policy that emphasise how the wellbeing of humans and all of creation must be an economy’s central purpose.”

And the Bishops are not backward in calling for new ways of structuring the economy so that it serves all and not just a few.

“It is not just about improving sections of the economy that have failed the poor. It is not about continually picking up people who have fallen through the system and placing them back into a market place that cast them aside in the first place,” they say.

“We call for a new approach that prevents exclusion from the outset, and like the owner of the vineyard in (last Sunday’s) Gospel reading, engages all people as dignified, active contributors to sustainable and inclusive growth.”

As I read the Statement, my mind turned to the people on the margins that we serve as missionaries in the AUS Province. Among them are migrants, the homeless, and of course, our indigenous brothers and sisters.

This is the human face of the economic failures the Bishops are talking about. These are the people who make up some of the almost 3 million Australians living in poverty.

We know these people by name. They are the people we choose to walk with and to learn from every day. As we accompany them, we come to know their problems, and we see how they have fallen through the cracks of the broader economy.

For instance, in the indigenous community of Santa Teresa in Central Australia, where the SVD’s have the care of the parish, inadequate housing has long been an issue.

Fr Bosco Son SVD, who until recently was parish priest at Santa Teresa, reported that over last Summer, despite an unusual amount of rain, the community was busy with builders, contractors, electricians and plumbers building new houses and renovating old ones.

“Fortunately, Santa Teresa now has a few new houses,” he said. “However, they are not sufficient to allow parishioners to live comfortably. Houses are still packed with people and it is a sad thing to see people struggling at Santa Teresa in this way.”

The answers to economic reform are not easy. But the Bishops are right in saying it’s ‘Everyone’s Business’. We all have a role to play in not only caring for those who have been left behind in our country, but in helping to create a people-centred economy which includes all.

Yours in the Word,

Fr Henry Adler SVD

Provincial.