The Catholic Weekly 24 April 2022

IN AN election campaign dominated already by “got- cha” questions about eco- nomic statistics, Catholic agencies and researchers warn that entrenched poverty, rising cost of living issues and social “scarring” in the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic will result in an “inevitable” fall in living standards in the 12 months after the election. Nearly all Catholic agencies are agreed that economic jus- tice and coming to terms with the ongoing crisis of COV- ID-19 ought to be the central focus of the election. Dr Tom Barnes, from the Australian Catholic Universi- ty’s Institute for Humanities and Social Sciences, found in a new study that “deep scar- ring” from COVID-19 and pandemic shutdowns is yet to be fixed, despite official un- employment figures showing a “miracle recovery”. “The prevailing inequali- ties and social marginalisa- tion that was there pre-pan- demic have been significantly worsened,” Dr Barnes told The Catholic Weekly . “It’s signifi- cantly worse now in a period of so-called recovery than it was before. That’s what the re- search is showing.” His study, Scarring effects of the pandemic economy , focused on the Victorian ex- perience of COVID-19, find- ing that the total labour force shrank by 3.4 per cent during the 2021 Delta wave, with the female labour force falling by 5.8 per cent. Underemployment, es- pecially among women and youth in hard-hit sectors like hospitality, tourism, retail and the arts, has also been ob- scured by the official figures. For migrants the pandem- ic was crushing; in Victoria around 47 per cent of new migrants in the last five years have come from central and south Asian countries like In- dia, Nepal and Bangladesh, and suffered unemployment during the pandemic four times higher than Australi- an-born workers. Nearly one quarter of all south Asian migrants were unemployed during the pan- demic. “Probably that under- estimates the true scale of job- lessness among those workers by about half, because it’s the official statistic,” Dr Barnes said. Migrants on temporary vi- sas were also excluded from JobKeeper and JobSeeker, meaning a large proportion of the 2.2 million on temporary visas were “driven to desper- ation” if they could not follow official government advice to return to their countries of origin because of poverty, illness or border closures. CONTINUED P2 ‘Invisible’ election issue ELECTION2022: expertswarn ‘inevitable fall’ in livingstandards the invisible realityof the21Mayvote ¾ Adam Wesselinoff SUNDAY 24 April, 2022 CatholicWeekly The www.catholicweekly.com.au THE CHURCH. ALL OF IT FROM MANLY TO MALAWI P12 ATTENDANCE SWELLED to nearly 13,000 people from Holy Thursday to Easter Sunday at St Mary’s Cathedral as COVID-19 re- strictions were eased for the first time in three years. Parishes across the Archdiocese of Sydney also saw packed congregations for Easter services. In his homily on Easter Sunday, Archbishop An- thony Fisher OP delivered a stark warning on the dan- gers posed by Euthanasia laws expected to be voted on in the New South Wales Upper House next month. HOMILY P8-9 SOMASCANS EASTER P16 ¾ Staff writers Packed basilica for Triduum $2 Migrants on temporary visas were also excluded from JobKeeper and JobSeeker, meaning a large propor- tion of the 2.2 million on temporary visas were ‘driven to desperation’.” Life after Death? What canwe know? A FASCINATING evening with Fr John Flader Register for the event at : https://sydneycathol ic.eventsair.com/msb/f lader Cost : $5 redeemable on the purchase of the book during the evening SCAN THE QR CODE TO REGISTER Friday 6 May | Venue: Level 5 Polding Centre | 6pm arrival for 6.30pm commencement * Easter Vigil Mass at St Mary’s Cathedral. PHOTO: GIOVANNI PORTELLI THE MARIST WAY: 150 YEARS YOUNG P14