The Australian Institute of Health and Welfare has released its bi-annual report card which shows that spending on the elderly and disabled has outpaced that on families with children. Over the past decade, welfare spending has grown, on average, 3.1 per cent faster than inflation.

Families Minister Jenny Macklin said that the Labor government had worked hard to better target family payments, reform the disability pension and increase the aged pension.

Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Cassandra Goldie said much of the welfare spending rise was linked to Australia's ageing population and reliance on the aged pension.

But the Institute’s CEO David Kalisch (pictured) believes that despite that increased spend, a number of Australian’s are doing it tough, and that single, elderly people were more likely to be trapped in poverty.

“Older Australians can expect to live longer than ever before, are enjoying more years of life...(but) the number of older Australians who are unable to care for themselves at home, or who require support to do so, is also growing.”

All of which suggests that while more money is being spent on aged care, much more is needed if the country will realise Bob Hawke’s claim that by 1990 no Australian child (and by extension, adult) would live in poverty.