Inequality is the treatment of people differently where some people are treated better than others. Inequality results in disparities among the people, and the people discriminated against are treated as if they don’t have equal rights with others that are treated better. There are various kinds of inequalities that happen in Australia which include people being discriminated either because of their gender or social class that they exist in.  The inequality occurs when the people are treated differently in a manner that is not right and equal to the way other people are treated. Inequalities lead to unequal growth in the society since some people get more opportunities than others that make them grow and develop more than the discriminated community.

Inequality in Australia was rampant in the mid-1990s when the society was divided between the rich and the poor. The rich were able to access more opportunities than the poor. The rich were the ones getting employment opportunities; therefore, they continue to become richer while the poor were discriminated against when it comes to gaining employment opportunities (Beer et al., 2016). The inequality led to the widening of the gap between the rich and the poor. The inequality also occurred in taxation where the poor were taxed in proportionally with the rich. Inequality creates an unequal society where few people have better advantages than others in the community when people feel that they are discriminated against they will begin fighting for their rights creating an unequal society(Beer et al., 2016). People need to get equal opportunities regardless of their social status in society, and the government was also accused of promoting inequality by discriminating people while offering employment opportunities and during the payment of wages.

When people are given equal opportunities in society, society grows as a whole, and some people don’t believe that their lives would be better if they were given equal opportunities. The economy also benefits when there is equality in society. The Australian government was reluctant in coming up with policies that would ensure there is equality in the society. The public was vulnerable hence the people were vulnerable to discrimination, the politicians were not willing to end the inequality because they benefited from the inequality. The politicians gave opportunities to their close family members hence they did not suffer from the discrimination.

For the inequality to end, the restructuring was to be done in order enable the majority that was being discriminated against to get equal opportunities with the minority that used to get special services and opportunities(Beer et al., 2016). The government required to come up with a low to give a framework on how opportunities were being to be shared among the people equally. The restructuring includes making people understand the importance of having fairness when sharing opportunities and equality when providing services to people.

Australia has been restructuring over the past three decades through reforms that are aid at improving the economy of the country. Some of the improvements are aimed at increasing imports for some products by minimising tariffs and removing barriers. Other reforms are for removing regulations in the financial sector, deregulating the labour sector, enhancing effectiveness and efficiency between the government and branches and the federal government as well as encouraging privatisation of firms that have been previously owned by the state. In most cases, the companies that are privately owned are managed in a better manner than government owned ones.  Private companies strategies on how to minimise operational and production costs to increase the profits. They have higher chances of growth than the public firms, and both the government and the citizens reap the benefits. When a company gets more profit, it means that the tax that will be paid to the government will increase. On the other hand, the citizen gets employment opportunities in the company which leads to improvement of the living standards of the people.

The tax system has been abolished, and some of the social programs no longer get government support while there are reforms introduced that have benefited the citizens. The social security support was one of the groups which were affected by the improvements since they lost their job through a retrenchment process (Stanford, 2018). The inequality exists in the changes because as some lost their source of income other benefited especially the poor. As a result of the reforms the unemployment rate increased and in every household, the number of unemployed adults increased. This has however changed in the last few years as more jobs have been created although the majority are part-time and casual jobs. The inequality trends have also increased significantly over the previous thirty years.

Income inequality in Australia is attributed to access to earnings since the casual workers were paid meagre wages while the salary of their counterpart in a full-time job was increasing. The inequality did not only exist between the full-time employees and the part-time as well as casual employees but also between male and female. In the 1980s the inequality of earnings of men increased because more women started working in industries. Between 1982 and 1996, the gains of women were concentrated in homes where men also earned a higher income. This means that the income was disposed at some few households while those who earned little casual wages experienced economic inequality. After 1996, the trend was different, and the impact of the earnings of women was moderate because income was concentrated I the households where men had lower earnings. This was evidence of a decrease in income inequality because it meant that in a family where a woman had a permanent job then the man had a casual job. The comparison of the salaries of the husband and wife is one of the bases of explaining economic inequality.

To deal with the increasing rate of inequality in income, the Australian government made use of tax and transfer systems although the approach was effective only until mid-1990. The ineffectiveness of the method is attributed to the decrease in the impact of a direct tax that was being redistributed(Beer et al., 2016). Some of the transfers also did were not up to date with the income in the society. The impact of government measures such as providing health services and education and deducting taxes that are imposed directly to an employee increases the level of income and decreases inequality.

In 1996 to 2007 the coalition that was ruling regulated the labour market by curtailing the engagement of trade unions in the bargaining of the wages and salaries as well as negotiating for employee social welfare. The women contribution in the job market was not supported and social services such as childcare facilities deceased (Hulse, and Yates, 2017). The child care centres in the community were also regulated which has led to male domination concerning income in Australia. Different factors either led to an increase of income inequality or its decrease. Growth in income equality was triggered by policies that advocated for equal opportunities of employment and provision of child care services. When the policies established created room for women to apply for jobs as policies favoured them, and there were facilities where children could be taken care of the mothers opted to seek employment and earn a living. When they got a winning higher than their male counterparts, there was inequality(Hulse, and Yates, 2017).  The deregulation of the labour market also contributed to an increase in employment because part-time increased, so people sought for employment. The policy that provided a financial benefit to women so that they could opt to stay at home and raise their children led to a decrease in income inequality. The conservative government, however, the case with new policies that encouraged women to look for employment

The inequality in Australia takes various shapes in different sectors within the country. Among the areas where there is inequality is in the housing sector. The housing sector was such that people were being discriminated based on their level of wealth that they have. Many people were unable to afford the houses that were being sold(Beer et al., 2016). The houses were being sold at high prices; therefore, they opted to live in areas that were not adequately developed. The inequality in housing led to the division of the people based on their social status. The people failed to afford the houses being sold at the time because they were not employed hence they did not have a source of income.

The employment opportunities were given discriminately; therefore, the people who did not have connections with the people in government were not able to secure jobs, and hence they lacked the funds to sell the houses being sold (Mukhopadhaya, 2017). The economy was not doing well; therefore, the private sector was facing some challenges that made them unable to hire new employees and reduce unemployment among the people. The poor performance of the economy meant that the companies were unable to make much profit that they could re-invest into the company and grow. The people accused the state of discriminating different cities because some cities received different support from the state in the form of developments. The cities that were occupied by the rich received more developments than the ones that were occupied by the poor.

The other area where there was extreme inequality among the people is in the education sector. The schools were divided into either schools of the rich and those of the poor. Schools charge different prices concerning fees; therefore, children from poor backgrounds did not receive an equal quality of education because they were in schools that lacked the necessary essential that promote learning(Mukhopadhaya, 2017). Children from rich families went to high-end schools where the schools could afford all the learning materials.  They performed better in school and landed better jobs once they completed their studies. The inequality in the education sector is a major contributing factor to other inequalities since you find that some children are empowered hence they are at a better position of exploiting the opportunities that they come across.

Many Australians also faced inequality in their places of unemployment, and the inequality was in the form of some people being treated better than others. The women are the ones who are discriminated the most since they are viewed as the weaker gender. They are not allowed to exploit opportunities that their male colleagues utilise they would make them promoted. Many of the promotions that take place at the workplace are given to male employees even when female employees are the most qualified(Hulse, and Yates, 2017). The women are also discriminated in the amount of income that they earn, you find women doing the same work with the same quality, but men are paid better paid. The law needs to be changed in such that people are paid based on the work that they have done and the skills that they have. Even in cases where you find more qualified women are not promoted when promotions come up. That the reason why many leadership positions in Australia up to date are occupied by men when compared to the number of women in leadership position.

The other form of inequality in Australia is through the taxation, and the taxation is not fair in such that people are taxed based on the wealth that they have. The taxation favours the rich, and the poor are taxed more than the rich based on the income that they have (Hulse, K. and Yates, J., 2017). For the taxation to be fair the rich should be taxed more than the poor because they have more money. When you tax the poor more, they face many challenges in meeting needs because all the money that they could spend meeting their needs. The taxation of any country plays an essential role in the success of the company.

Restructuring is required to make the tax favourable to the people, and the restructuring should be in all sectors that have inequality.  Research needs to be done to find out the best strategies to be used in fixing the inequalities that exist (Bamberry, 2016). The restructuring needs to involve several stakeholders that play a role in ensuring that they change how they treat the vulnerable people in society.  The restricting should be done based on the inequalities that exist. The challenge with restructuring is that the people tasked with the responsibility have no idea of the challenges faced by the people. The restructuring can be supported by government regulation where policies are developed to make the restructuring easier.

In conclusion, inequality in Australia led to the divisions among the people, especially in different social groups. Many people discriminated against were denied access to opportunities that they deserved because they had the skills to utilise the opportunities. The inequality led to a divided society where people were discriminated based on their social class status.

References

Beer, A., Bentley, R., Baker, E., Mason, K., Mallett, S., Kavanagh, A. and LaMontagne, T., 2016. Neoliberalism, economic restructuring and policy change: Precarious housing and precarious employment in Australia. Urban studies, 53(8), pp.1542-1558.

Bamberry, L., 2016. Restructuring women’s work; labour market and household gender regimes in the Greater Latrobe Valley, Australia. Gender, Place & Culture, 23(8), pp.1135-1149.

Stanford, J., 2018. The declining labour share in Australia: Definition, measurement, and international comparisons. Journal of Australian Political Economy, The, (81), p.11.

Mukhopadhaya, P., 2017. Economic growth and income inequality in China, India and Singapore: trends and policy implications. Routledge.

Hulse, K. and Yates, J., 2017. A private rental sector paradox: unpacking the effects of urban restructuring on housing market dynamics. Housing studies, 32(3), pp.253-270.

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