The Land of the ‘Fair Go’? Mapping Income Inequality and Socioeconomic Segregation Across Melbourne Neighbourhoods

Loading...
Thumbnail Image
File version

Accepted Manuscript (AM)

Author(s)
Sydes, M
Wickes, R
Griffith University Author(s)
Primary Supervisor
Other Supervisors
Editor(s)

van Ham, Maarten

Tammaru, Tiit

Ubareviciene, Ruta

Janssen, Heleen

Date
2021
Size
File type(s)
Location
Abstract

Despite enduring political rhetoric that promotes Australia as ‘the lucky country’ and ‘the land of the fair go’, recent decades have seen a noticeable increase in levels of income inequality. This growing economic divide has driven housing prices up and left lower-income families unable to access the housing market in inner-city locations. In contrast to other countries, Australia’s socioeconomic segregation does not overlap with ethnic segregation. Australia’s highly regulated immigration program has resulted in a relatively well-educated and employable foreign-born population who largely reside in middle-income neighbourhoods. These particularities make Australia an interesting context to explore patterns of socioeconomic segregation over time. In this chapter, we will utilise both traditional measures of segregation (such as the dissimilarity index) as well more spatialised measures (such as location quotients and Local Morans I) to assess socioeconomic segregation at the local level. Drawing on four waves of census data (2001, 2006, 2011 and 2016), we explore how socioeconomic segregation has changed over time across nearly 500 neighbourhoods in Melbourne. We further examine the degree to which socioeconomic segregation aligns with ethnic segregation patterns and levels in this city. We find patterns of socioeconomic segregation remain relatively unchanging over time in Melbourne. Additionally, our findings highlight important differences in patterns and levels of socioeconomic and ethnic segregation in the Australian context.

Journal Title
Conference Title
Book Title

Urban Socio-Economic Segregation and Income Inequality: A Global Perspective

Edition
Volume
Issue
Thesis Type
Degree Program
School
Publisher link
Patent number
Funder(s)
Grant identifier(s)
Rights Statement
Rights Statement

© 2021 The Author(s). This chapter is licensed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits use, sharing, adaptation, distribution and reproduction in any medium or format, as long as you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license and indicate if changes were made.

Item Access Status
Note
Access the data
Related item(s)
Subject

Political economy and social change

Political geography

Sociology

Persistent link to this record
Citation

Sydes, M; Wickes, R, The Land of the ‘Fair Go’? Mapping Income Inequality and Socioeconomic Segregation Across Melbourne Neighbourhoods, Urban Socio-Economic Segregation and Income Inequality: A Global Perspective, 2021, pp. 229-246

Collections