Nobody likes to admit they’re poor but children from five families allowed Four Corners into their lives to show us the world from their point of view: “My parents get paid on Friday right, so during the week they probably have money. Wednesday, Thursday or sometimes Tuesday, you know, what are we supposed to eat?”
At 12, Jessica has a bleak view of her future: “A good job, like where you get like heaps of money. I’d be like a decent mum, like a husband with no violence and everything, so it could be a happy family, you know, but like that would never happen…”
These are children living in areas of concentrated disadvantage where the adult world can be a scary place:
Hayden: “…my dad, he got bashed, he got sliced with a knife.”
Some remain optimistic despite the chaos around them:
Dale : “Anything is possible when you put all your heart into it. Just try your best. I’ve been saying that a lot haven’t I?”
The question arises, why isn’t more being done to break the cycle of disadvantage? Will this generation of Australia’s children be given more to hope for than their parents?
Monday 24th September at 8.30 pm on ABC 1.