![The Australia Institute's Ben Oquist says the actual income of the lowest paid had gone backwards over the past two decades.](/web/20161004170524im_/http://www.smh.com.au/content/dam/images/1/1/u/9/e/b/image.related.landscape.120x80.gqkmgy.png/1470312781455.jpg)
Inequality rises as government plans to clip poorest further
The Turnbull government's plan to strip low-income welfare recipients of the clean energy supplement, will exacerbate growing inequality, sending their incomes 32 per cent below the poverty line, according to new research by the left-leaning Australia Institute. The study, shows the 2016 budget decision to abolish carbon tax compensation at a saving of $1.4 billion to the commonwealth, will add to a growing wealth gap in which the 10 richest Australians own as much as the bottom 4 million.