Spatial Inequality

1. Spatial Inequality By Emma, Christie, Sarah, Natasha and Mikala. Year 10 Geography

2. Explain the spatial and ecological dimensions of the issue Spatial Dimension: Where it is and why it is there. Ecological Dimension: The interaction of humans and their environment.

3. Spatial inequality can be identified in different ways. The inequalities can be comparative to the rest of the world; to the country it is in, or between different areas in the country. So in saying that it is hard to really pinpoint any inequalities specifically, because in reality inequalities occur everywhere. But starting with a broader area, the world, the main inequalities identified are continents with a majority or a large amount of people living below their national poverty line. The two main continents that suffer from an extreme amount of spatial inequalities relating to poverty are Africa and South America. These countries may suffer from poverty because of: • lack of education • contaminated food resources • over poulation Spatial Dimension of Spatial Inequality in relation to the world

4. Australia is located in the Southern Hemisphere, and is surrounded by the southern ocean, the Pacific Ocean, the Indian Ocean, the Tasman sea and the coral sea. Australia is situated between the two large continents of Africa and South America. The tropic of Capricorn runs through the centre of Australia. • Australia is quite a rich country, so the meaning of poverty is different to the meaning of poverty in places such as Africa. • We use the term relative poverty, meaning a lack of required resources to be able to participate in the lifestyle enjoyed by other Australians. • Absolute poverty is rare in Australia because our social welfare system guarantees that people should have a good amount of food, clothing and shelter. However, as we commonly see, this is often not always the case. Spatial Dimension of Spatial Inequality in relation to Australia

5. In Australia, it is less our impact on the environment that causes poverty, but it is more our government and personal decisions on aspects of our lives that causes poverty. An example of this is that a majority of our population lives in capitol cities and along the coast of Australia, as shown in the map of Australia. The red parts represent the thicker density in population. So as you can see, we have quite a large amount on population living on the east coast, and southern east part of Australia. Because of this jobs are scarcer and housing is more expensive on coastal and city areas. Therefore, unemployed people move to more rural areas where housing is cheaper, but the jobs are also scarce, resulting in people living in relative poverty. Ecological Dimension of Spatial Inequality in relation to Australia

6. Identify the processes present explaining one

7. In Sydney, spatial inequality is evident. The split in society’s is between north and north east and south and south west. In the south, there is more chance of spatial inequality because of the isolation away from the city. Also, lower land prices, jobs are harder to find and public transport can be very limited. Although compared to the south west, the north east have an extensive amount of transport and facilities including schools and hospitals. Because of higher land prices the soceio-economic status is much much higher. People also tend to move out west and work in mines because of the amount of money they receive. The idea that the government pay you to move to isolated places to keep spatial inequality. Identify the processes present explaining one

8. As a result of spatial inequality people can move out of a certain area in search of a better and healthier lifestyle. Also because of this unequal environment, people become dependant on social welfare, taxation system and non-government organisation (NGOs) such as The Smith Family. Social Welfare includes benefits, services and programs that help to fulfil the basic needs for an acceptable lifestyle. Furthermore it aims to decrease social inequality. This type of aid includes unemployment benefits, childcare facilities, basic health care, pensions and even education. Local, state and federal governments are responsible for this in Australia. Identify the processes present explaining one (continued)

9. Describe the impacts including an estimate of the economic and human costs of the issue.

10. The difference in spatial inequality in Australia is gargantuan when taking into perspective the average Sydney resident earns about $70,000 compared to the average town resident who earns around $. The gap continues to grow between the rich and poor when the rich are continually gaining a better education compared to the poor, who in general, are forced to leave school at earlier ages to earn money to provide their families with food. The lower caste people are moving to cheaper, rural areas as price demands are lower, thus the cycle begins. Moreover, they also have less access to education, which stunts the progress of rural areas in comparison to cities, which are flourishing. Describe the impacts including an estimate of the economic and human costs of the issue.

11. Families in rural areas represent one in seven or 14% of all families in Australia. Residents living in rural areas have less access to health services, meaning if an incident causing a serious fatality occurs, there is less chance of survival. Describe the impacts including an estimate of the economic and human costs of the issue.

12. Outline the precise responses of individuals and groups

13. Individuals: Many people respond differently to homelessness and furthermore spatial inequality. Many people volunteer their time to assist the less fortunate, but others prefer to give money. Moreover, people protest and try and get the government to do something, because they believe it’s the government’s problem. Groups: There are many groups that respond and take action to poverty and try and proactively. This includes organisations like The Salvation Army, St Vincent De Paul and Anglicare. The Responses of Individuals and Groups

14. Government: one of the government’s ways to stop spatial inequality is providing housing. Also departments such as Australia Institute of Health and Welfare, Community Builders and the NSW Premiers Department.   Local government: The local government’s main job is to provide and help support services in the area. This can include places like leisure centres, childcare centres etc, places that the whole community can enjoy, regardless of their area of residence or culture etc. NSW Government: The NSW Government provided $1 billion to build over 3000 homes in NSW by 2012. This is a way the government is trying to help make a difference  Australian Government: The aim of the Australian government is to reduce homelessness by 50% by 2020. The responses of various Government Groups

15. Summarise two separate newspaper articles on the issue One: Urban rural comparison Two: Aboriginal related spatial inequality

16. ONE • The uneven distribution of wealth and possession is a pressing issue causing great division between urban and rural communities in Australia. • The economy-related divide between the country and the city in NSW today is bigger than ever and growing worse. • An ongoing political/community struggle is raging on to reverse the ever-widening divide. • A survey of the relation between personal income and area of residence showed that those earning in the lowest income came from 12 country areas and those earning in the highest income lived in 5 Sydney suburbs. • Across NSW, over 400 bush-situated communities are fighting through the stripping of jobs, services and even people being moved to populate growing cities. • Recent health reports show that those living in the city are better off in reference to the three main indicators of wellbeing when compared to those living in rural communities. • City dwellers suffer the 
least disadvantage, have the greatest access to economic resources, and
 have the best rating for good education and occupational opportunities. • A recent report, echoing many other studies, was taken out on Urban vs. Rural and the results show that the more remote the locality, the tougher the life. • This report also shows that services withdrawn or downsized in the country include banks, secondary schools, public transport and those that cater for Aborigines. • The Human Rights Commission estimated that rural NSW lost 5000 hospital beds from 1988 to 1995 and 30 hospitals were closed, downgraded or privatised. Summarise two separate newspaper articles on the issue The Sydney Morning Herald, 7 June 1999

17. Map of the average annual income distribution in Australia

18. TWO • The lands of the Anangu, the people, Pitjantjatjara and Yankunytjatjaraare more isolated than most, however these Indigenous communities have a strong sense of their own language and culture. • Nevertheless the senior women are worried. Worried for their isolation causing greater problems. • The community is skinny with nothing; it's empty. 
The women say they're fed up with the sort of violence, abuse and neglect that accompanies their poverty. • Most of the community is on social security and the cost of living here is much higher than in the city. Then there's spending on sly grog, drugs and gambling. • The community is calling for the sort of income management scheme that has been implemented in the Northern Territory. • The children of the community are brought up living in the everyday terror of poverty. • The Women’s council are discussing possibly introducing an income management scheme that will end poverty and inequality in their community. Summarise two separate newspaper articles on the issue http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3547788.htm

19. Map of the distribution on Indigenous population in 1996

20. Recommend further actions that can be taken to minimise the impact of the issue There is nothing specifically that can be done to resolve the problem of Spatial Inequality, but in saying this there is a range of things that can be done to minimalize the problem at hand.

21. Since there are more readily available jobs in urban areas, people from rural areas are more likely to move away to the larger cities and towns. One way to prevent this from happening altogether is for the government to provide a greater amount of available jobs to remote areas. This could include things such as development of new shopping centres, schools or hospitals. Doing this would create a greater avenue of vitally important services for rural communities, and would also help circulate money in and around the community, assisting in the contribution to the wellbeing of the residents. With additional money circulating in the rural communities more money can be spent on greatly needed supplies necessary to run an Australian household. This, along with a number of other factors can help minimize the effect that spatial inequality has in rural areas. How to solve the urban – rural differences.

22. According to the United Nations, the quality of life of Aboriginal people is the second worst of the planet—only China rates worse The way to fix this problem would be to work on the welfare of the aboriginals, providing them with better hygiene, living environments, schooling, medical care etc.. Spatial Inequality in relation to Aboriginals is a cycle. If the low education level was focused on, just as a starting point, Aboriginal education levels would grow immensely. This would then help to lower the high unemployment rate, it would also lower the poverty in the Aboriginal communities, for example. It is possible that these factors would not make a dramatic difference at first but after time the negative aspects would slowly decrease and the positive features would therefore slowly increase. Over time, these factors would begin to make a noticeable, significant change, and the cycle of Spatial Inequality for the Aboriginals would be breaking. How to solve Spatial Inequality shown to Aboriginals.

23. Information: Geo-Active 2 page 164 - 167 World map: http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a6/Percent_poverty_world_map.png Australia map: http://www.bluemaxx.com.au/images/3gcoverage.jpg Article one: Geo-Active 2 page 165 Article two: http://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3547788.htmhttp://www.abc.net.au/pm/content/2012/s3547788.htm Music: The Fear – Ben Howard Bibliography

24. Information: Spatial and ecological dimensions: Sarah Horgan Processes and Precise responses: Emma Giaquinto Economic and Human impacts: Natasha Sneddon Newspaper Article Summaries: Mikala Tunstall Recommendations for solutions: Christie Owen Creation and Editing of the PowerPoint: Mikala Tunstall Music provided by: Christie Owen Thanks to…