Financial Resilience in Australia 2015

Financial exclusion has not shifted over the last 8 years in Australia. One in six people remain severely or fully financially excluded. This group continues to experience disadvantage across multiple fronts and the social and economic implications for individuals, families, communities, governments, not-for-profits are potentially substantial. However, there are key challenges with the existing financial exclusion research. It is not currently possible to:

• differentiate between people choosing to be financially excluded and those who are forced into exclusion;
• identify the different ways vulnerable consumers move to positions of greater strength and opportunity or become increasingly at risk/vulnerable;
• assess the extent to which people are financially able to cope with financial shocks/challenges and who is most/least at risk; or
• reliably compare interventions: understand which programs/interventions are most effective at increasing the financial resilience of individuals because of a lack of shared impact measurement.

This project aims to better understand financial resilience among people living in Australia and where resources can and should be invested to best increase people’s ability to cope with financial adversity. Intended outcomes include a report on financial resilience in Australia and the development of a shared measurement tool.

Financial counselling contact for feelings of distress

General contacts for feelings of distress