The Catholic Weekly 5 July 2020

catholicweekly.com.au 7 5, July, 2020 Each Gift individually Nurtured Redfield College Boys Years 2-12 855 Old Northern Rd, Dural NSW 2158 02 9651 4066 Montgrove College Infants Girls & Boys K to Year 1 Girls Year 2 to Year 12 140 Bringelly Rd, Orchard Hills NSW 2748 02 4736 5977 Wollemi College Boys Year 2 to Year 12 4 Gipps St, Werrington NSW 2747 02 9833 0499 Tangara School for Girls Infants Girls & Boys Reception to Year 1 Girls Year 2 to Year 12 77-97 Franklin Rd, Cherrybrook NSW 2126 02 9680 4844 lost work or had their hours cut as a result of the downturn and approximately 12 per cent of Australians aged 51 to 65 live in poverty compared to the OECD average of 10.5 per cent. Nearly a third of people who have lost work or had Mature jobless warning THE BROTHERHOOD of Saint Laurence is urging the Federal Government to ad- dress the disproportionate and growing demographic of low-incomemature aged Aus- tralians – aged 51 to 65 - under severe financial strain due to the COVID-19 recession. Results from a research pa- per entitled Hidden in Plain Sight , by the Brotherhood of Saint Laurence and the inter- national management consul- tancy Nous Group highlight multi-dimensional disadvan- tages including employment, housing, economic security and health connections felt by low-income mature aged Australians. The data from the paper is built on nearly a decade of re- search by the Brotherhood of mature aged low income Aus- tralians. Being in an age bracket that is not yet eligible for the pen- sion or aged care, many low income mature aged Austral- ians are caught between em- ployment and retirement: too old to work and too young to retire. For many low-income ma- ture aged Australians, finan- cial security was already in a precarious position before the COVID-19 pandemic and re- cession with recent economic turmoil merely exacerbating the adverse conditions. The paper estimates that, due to the COVID-19 reces- sion nearly 400,000 Australi- ans aged 51 to 65 have either hours cut as a result of the pandemic are aged 51 to 65 – fuelling “rapid growth” in the number of mature-age, low-income Australians who may fall through the cracks of government support. Dr Amber Mills, a senior research fellow at the Broth- erhood, said the catastrophe has “the potential to set off a cascade of other events.” “They’re not a group that typically one might think would be struggling because the assumption is that people in that age group who had an extensive working life would have resources to fall back on,” she said. “In many instances that’s true and in many instances that’s not true.” The paper recommends three actions be taken imme- diately to provide relief: the strengthening of safety nets for immediate financial needs such as food, targeted com- munications to mature aged Australians with information on where and how they can seek help, and a boost in fund- ing for financial counselling. Unless actions are taken to alleviate these conditions the number of low-income ma- ture aged Australians living in poverty will spiral. The paper also notes of other groups experienc- ing these challenges during COVID-19 recession includ- ing refugees, new migrants, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and anyone facing stigma or discrimina- tion due to disability. ¾ ¾ David Ryan Older Australians are disproportianately represented in the nation’s unemployed. In brief Cardinal ready for arrest CARDINAL JOSEPH Zen Ze-kiun has said that while he will remain pru- dent, he is prepared to suffer arrest and trials un- der Hong Kong’s sweep- ing new national securi- ty law. “If right and proper words were considered against their law, I will endure all the suing, tri- als and arrests. Numer- ous predecessors have endured similarly,” the 88-year-old cardinal said in a video posted on his Facebook page. “Perhaps they are truly insane. Who knows? Let them be then. Isn’t there a saying, ‘Those whom God wishes to destroy, he first makes mad’?” Cardinal Zen’s fears that the new laws could affect religious freedom in the city contradict the view of Hong Kong’s apostolic administrator, Cardinal John Tong Hon, who in late June claimed the laws would have no effect on religious freedom. - CNS NEWS