Agencies say Mid West poverty on the rise

Poverty is on the rise in Geraldton and the Mid West, according to social workers.

The Australian Council of Social Service released a report on Sunday revealing 13.9 per cent of Australians were living below the poverty line.

The report also revealed one in six children and one in seven adults were living in poverty.

St Vincent de Paul Society Geraldton president Damian O'Hara said the organisation was flat out with people seeking immediate assistance for food and furniture.

Mr O'Hara said they previously had four appointments for help a day, but this has built up to seven or eight a day over the past 12 months.

"The problem is getting bigger, and I don't see it dying anytime soon," he said.

"People come in and they've got nowhere to get help and they've got no money.

"Most of them don't have enough money to get through to the end of the week."

Mr O'Hara said the organisation was seeing a couple of hundred people a month in dire need of help.

"It's slowly building up, people are feeling it more and more," he said.

"People don't have enough money to pay their bills and get food as well.

"If they've got children it makes it worse. The poorest seem to be getting poorer."

According to the report, indigenous Australians were more likely to experience poverty than non-indigenous Australians, with 19.3 per cent of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in poverty, compared to 12.4 per cent of non-indigenous Australians.

Bundiyarra Aboriginal Community Aboriginal Corporation environmental health co-ordinator Gordon Gray said poverty was getting worse in the Mid West.

Mr Gray said there were two-to-three Aboriginal families living in one house to avoid homelessness.

"It's getting worse," he said.

"According to that report, they're using figures that are three years old.

"So can you imagine what it's like now — that's the real worry we have."

He said the axing of the Community Development Employment Program had increased poverty among Aboriginals living in remote places, because many were now unemployed.

"A lot of people didn't agree with the program, but at least it gave a lot of people a reason to wake up in the morning," he said.

"At the end of the day whether they've worked four or 40 hours a week, they were able to collect a wage.

Midwest Disaster Relief managing director Chris Sorohan said there had been an increase in people seeking assistance over the past 12 months.

He said the number of people living out of cars and tents had risen.

"We've had more people this year than ever before tell us they are living in cars and sheds," he said.

"It doesn't happen every day, but there certainly has been an increase.

"A lot more people are asking for blankets."