Australians generally have a good standard of living compared to other countries. But there are still about five per cent of those aged 15 years and older who experience multiple disadvantages which are likely to affect their ability to learn, work, engage and have a voice.

Disadvantage and social exclusion tends to be higher amongst certain groups of people and the Australian Government has identified priorities in which to start the work of addressing social exclusion and increasing social inclusion:

• Supporting children at greatest risk of long term disadvantage by providing health, education and family relationships services
  
• Helping jobless families with children by helping the unemployed into sustainable employment and their children into a good start in life
  
• Focusing on the locations of greatest disadvantage by tailoring place-based approaches in partnership with the community
  
• Assisting in the employment of people with disability or mental illness by creating employment opportunities and building community support
  
• Addressing the incidence of homelessness by providing more housing and support services
  
• Closing the gap for Indigenous Australians with respect to life expectancy, child mortality, access to early childhood education, educational achievement and employment outcomes.
  

In developing programs for increasing participation by the above priority groups, the Government is also committed to helping vulnerable new arrivals and refugees.

To find out how these priorities are being implemented see Programs and Initiatives.