More than 2.5 million Australians are struggling to meet their basic daily needs. The Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) has released its latest figures in a recent report about the country's poverty rates. The report revealed that more than 600,000 children and a third of children in single-parent families were living below the poverty line.

According to an News Corp report, ACOSS used data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 2012 for its analysis. One in six children was found to be in a daily struggle against poverty. The report said that for a family to be considered below the poverty line, a family consisting of four members would be surviving on a weekly income of less than $841. A single adult would be living in poverty if he or she earns less than $400 a week.

The 2014 national poverty report also revealed that about 40 percent of Australians living on social security benefits fall below the poverty line. Among the worst affected by poverty in Australia are women, the disabled, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

According to ACOSS, the new figures should be an eye-opener for the Abbott government to reconsider its planned budget cuts to welfare payments. ACOSS chief executive Dr Cassandra Goldie said the report is a "wake-up" call for the country to find the right policies to prevent the rising poverty rate. She added that the issue should be taken seriously.

In another report about poverty in Australia, Bankwest Curtin Economics Centre has found that a single person having severe income poverty usually has less than $133 to live on each week after paying for housing expenses. Among the capital cities in Australia, only Sydney was found to have a higher proportion of people living in severe poverty with 6 percent of the population struggling to meet daily needs.

Meanwhile, reports said the Salvation Army has expressed its support for calls to reduce budget cuts since many Australians do not have enough food and access to electricity. Salvation Army's Ronda McIntyre said the latest reports were "an indictment on a wealthy country like Australia."