Disadvantaged children fall behind in the land of the fair go
By Fiona Stanley and Norman Gillespie
Rich Australia is failing to live up to its cherished reputation.
It's hard to argue that Australia, the land of the 'fair go' has ever been better off. Our GDP is booming, we are at full employment and we are, of course, one of the few countries where the global financial crisis has had comparatively minimal impact.
We love the idea that you can leave school at 14 and become prime minister, as Paul Keating did. That you can arrive here as a migrant and become a billionaire, as Frank Lowy famously did.
Yet recent research from UNICEF shows it is not a picture that is reflected across our whole society. The Children Left Behind report shows that we are letting our most disadvantaged children fall further behind than most other rich countries.
The effects of this are hard to see now but, if not addressed, will have a profound effect on our social and economic wellbeing through the current century.