Objectives

To defend and advance the rights of people living in poverty and those experiencing harm on the basis of race, disability, criminalisation, gender, visa status or any other form of oppression.

To provide an avenue for people living in poverty to dominate social policy and advocacy work and create the conditions that enable opportunities for people living in poverty to take on leadership roles, be platformed and have their expertise recognised.

To reflect the diversity of people and experiences affected by harmful systems, policies and programs to the greatest extent possible in all policy and advocacy work done by the Antipoverty Centre.

To foster solidarity, encourage informal peer support, strengthen resilience and alleviate the social pressure and isolation that results from living in poverty by building a safe and inclusive community of people with shared experiences.

To use the Antipoverty Centre’s platform and resources to amplify the work of other individuals and organisations whose values and objectives align, including by providing material support when possible and appropriate.

To increase understanding among the broader public of the harm being caused to people living in poverty and the underlying causes of these harms.

To shift negative public perceptions of people living in poverty, including by countering misinformation and myths.

To centre poverty in social, economic and environmental policy discussion, especially in institutions and contexts where the voices of people in poverty are minimised or excluded, and to reverse the normalisation of people who do not have direct experience of poverty being given prominence in these discussions.

To expose the structures and systems that exacerbate and rely on poverty for profit, including the state’s use of private organisations (both for-profit and non-profit), to continue the stratification of racial, gender, sexual and class oppression.

To influence the positions and priorities of other advocacy, policy and political organisations, and eventually those of government.