NCOSS report shows 18.2 per cent of Glen Innes in poverty

Around 18.2 per cent of Glen Innes residents earn less than poverty wages according to the study, which was released today.

And the town has one of the worst poverty rates for single parents in NSW, with 49 per cent of single parent households living in poverty.

Half of the town's unemployed population lives in poverty with the report estimating around 9 per cent of Glen Innes is looking for work but can't find it.

The town's burden of poverty is substantially worse than average, even for regional Australia. Just 13.3 per cent of all NSW residents are in poverty, or 14.6 per cent of those in regional NSW.

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NCOSS CEO, Joanna Quilty said the research is a wake-up call for governments, highlighting the significant barriers facing communities in regional NSW.

"Our regional and rural communities are facing significant disadvantage, all at a time when communities are being hit hard by the drought," she said.

"What we have produced is a map of where economic and social disadvantage exists in the premier state of the lucky country."

There are almost 900,000 people in NSW living below the poverty line with women making up the majority, and more than 16 per cent of NSW children living in poverty.

In Glen Innes the youth poverty rate is 22 per cent. For young adults (15-22) poverty is actually less likely, at just 14 per cent. Some 13 per cent of pensioners live in poverty in the town.

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"NCOSS believes that postcodes should not determine the ability of people to get ahead, and this research should inform policy-makers to empower communities to reach their full potential," said Ms Quilty.

"The reality is that NSW is the wealthiest state in one of the world's wealthiest countries. But there is not one community in NSW that is unaffected by economic disadvantage."

Statistics shared with the Examiner by the town's St Vincent de Paul show the town's poor are struggling with unaffordable electricity prices and an unemployment benefit that hasn't increased in real terms in two decades.

Nearly 40 per cent of Glen Innes' Aboriginal and Torres Straight Island population live in poverty, compared to 20 per cent for the non-Indigenous population.

The report also shows the town's life expectancy, which is a relatively low 80.5. Our median income is $599 a week.

Queanbeyan region has the state's lowest poverty rate of 4.1% with the highest, 28.3%, in the Sydney region of Guildford-South, Granville.

The NSW NSW Council of Social Service research was conducted by NATSEM at the University of Canberra. The data comes from the 2015-16 ABS Survey of Income and Housing combined with the 2016 Census of Population and Housing. It illustrates ABS data at an SA2 level in map form.

Australia does not have an official "poverty line". NCOSS uses a formula based on a benchmark of median incomes across Australia, with an income 50 per cent below the middle being the line.