I don't know what ya whynging about, if ya can't make ends meet it's by your own doing. As for homeless people the same applies it's their decision. Don't you supposedly live to your means. If you have a whopping 900 [ i suppose thats a week ] Of disposable income, you should be living like a king, or else you are saving up a fortune.
I have never seen so many broke people around with 2 incomes in the house.
I owned my house long ago and with one income.
We didn't need everything all at once.
I had a wife, a real wife.
Take a good look at yourself, and position yourself accordingley.

Chris,
I think you need to define 'battlers' or dump the term altogether.
It seems to be a highly subjective term anyway.
Is battling a new Plasma each two years...a new sound system that produces a difference, all but the aurally superior can percieve the difference. Does it matter if next door has a new bloody Ford (more likely a symbol of their slavery) etc.?

As for consumerism being the driver, my son has a tee that reads "We're all going to HELL....and I'm driving the bus" it seem apt.

Think of it like this Just because China has a standing army of 2.5 million soldiers (give or take a regiment or two) doesn't mean we have to also. potential arms race and unnecessary consumption of finite resources.

Likewise there are different forms of Consumerism as there is Capitalism(or any other ism). My question is does it always have to be argued/ thought of in the extreme or immutable in it form and outcome?

I see no reason why we can't change the emphasis from false self gratification to practical altruism. It doesn't have to be a consequence of catastrophe. When it will probably too late. Ideology not required just lateral thinking.

By the tenor of some replies I think Australia needs a miserable gits association. How is it that a valid circumstance, the housing crisis, draws such venom? The usual vacuous blurts, blaming a penchant for smokes and tellys, and yes, throw in a comment about the poverty stricken elsewhere in the world to show the absurdity of Australian poverty.

The fact is the housing crisis is making things much harder for battlers. Are they smoking more? Are they spending more on tellys? Does the existence of some poverty stricken bugger elsewhere in the world ameliorate the worsening plight of battlers here? Why not make poverty stricken Aussies the benchmark instead of poverty stricken Bangladeshis? How do you think a political aspirant would fare were he to say to his constituents, "What are you whingeing about? There are plenty of Bangladeshis who would work all day for a dollar, and some would even sell you their kids for a few dollars more. This should be the new Australian standard."?

I think you have the wrong word, poverty , What is poverty, There's probably a lot of people that would like some extra income.
What makes you think that pensioners live in "poverty"
What you are referring to is lifestyle. Because they don't live your type of lifestyle, you say this is 'poverty'
Everybody is entitled to the dole or a pension.
Isn't it living to your means.
The word Battlers has had its run, everybody has an equal opertunity to work or soak up the sunshine. It's a lifestyle decision.
In the coming years there will be people that will not be able to live on a pension, because there lifestyle would not allow it, at 70 years of age they will be still paying off their mortgage.
Mortgages that consist of houses ,cars, tv's, holidays, it's another form of credit card.

Well said, Fester

People who have benefited from the growing gap between the top and bottom of the income distibution like to salve their consciences by comparing Australia's poor with starving African peasants. They forget that we don't have a world government. We (at least theoretically) have the power and responsibility to do something about abuses in our own society by social pressure, incentives, or, as a last resort, by getting laws passed to penalise the bad behaviour. We have no say at all about how the Africans or the Bangladeshis conduct their affairs.

I am curious as to how bad conditions have to be before Desmond would concede that someone is poor. How about pensioners who may have enough to eat under normal conditions, but are going blind or are in agony because they need cataract surgery, dental care, or a hip replacement that they can't afford? What about homeless schizophrenics living on the streets in our major cities?

*has $150 left at most to buy extras (including clothes) and save for house.*

Well it seems to me what has changed is expectations. If life is
not laid on a plate these days, people must be battling.

In the 70s, when most of my friends were buying houses, they would
come up with a plan, as things were not easy either. So for instance,
the smart ones would both work, bank one wage and live off the other.
Hey presto, within 4-5 years, they had a huge deposit together
and could think of making babies in relative comfort, without those
huge house payments.

Others bought a run down old shack and slowly did it up.

I built my own house, which took a couple of years to get to a
point of being livable, but that still meant concrete floors, no
kitchen, doors, or other finishings, for years.

30 years ago the 3 by 1 fibro of 13 squares was standard. Now its
a 25 square 4 by 2 and if they don't have it immediately, they
are seemingly doing it tough.