Income Inequality In Australia

As mentioned previously, the Australian distributions do look much better than majority of OECD countries (Table 1). This is why I’ve recommended examining the Australian Gini coefficient in the past, to witness what truly has occurred (Figure 2). Figure 2 indicates the cumulative picture is of an upward trend, therefore the inequality is increasing across the years. However, there have also been years in which the inequality rate decreased, only to eventually increase back up into unequal rates (ABS considers this fact as insignificant change).
By observing this graph, we can presume that while the inequality has increased in Australia over the previous 3 decades the common saying ‘rich becoming richer and poor becoming poorer’ proves to be prevalent based off this graph.
In the past half-decade, income inequality has increased significantly in Western Australia. As shown in Figure 3, that if Western Australia were a country it would be as unequal as Portugal (although much richer), and slightly less unequal than the United States (US). On the other hand, if the Capital Territory or Tasmania were countries – they would be as unequal as Switzerland or Norway. Switzerland and Norway are among one of the most equal countries in OECD countries (ABS, 2015) therefore, the Capital Territory and Tasmania are currently doing well and prove to be in a good