Poverty in Australia refers to the incidence and measurement of relative poverty within Australia. Relative income poverty is typically measured as the percentage of the population earning less than the median wage of the working population.

In 2023, the Australian Council of Social Service (ACOSS) released a report stating that relative poverty was increasing in Australia. It estimated that as of 2019–2020, 3.3 million people, or 13.4% of the population, were living below the internationally accepted relative poverty threshold of 50% of a country's median income. The report also estimated that 761,000 children (16.6%) under the age of 15 were living in relative poverty.

The primary method of measuring poverty is by establishing a poverty line and determining how many people fall below it. Poverty lines can be set as either absolute or relative, but Australia does not have an official poverty line of either type. The ACOSS/UNSW report series, entitled Poverty in Australia uses two poverty lines and also accounts for people's housing costs. One poverty line, used by The Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and in this study, is set at 50% of the median household income, while the other is set at 60% of the median income.

First introduced in 1990, the "dollar-a-day" poverty line measured absolute poverty according to the standards of the world's poorest countries. The World Bank defined the new international poverty line as $1.27 a day for 2005 (equivalent to $1.00 a day in 1996 US prices) but it was later updated to $1.25 and $2.50 per day. Absolute poverty, extreme poverty, or abject poverty is 'a condition characterised by severe deprivation of basic human needs, including food, safe drinking water, sanitation facilities, health, shelter, education, and information. It depends not only on income but also on access to services.'

The term 'absolute poverty', when used in this context, is usually synonymous with 'extreme poverty'. Robert McNamara, the former President of the World Bank, described absolute or extreme poverty as, '...a condition so limited by malnutrition, illiteracy, disease, squalid surroundings, high infant mortality, and low life expectancy as to be beneath any reasonable definition of human decency'. In his article published in Analysis & Policy Observatory, Robert Tanton notes that, 'While this amount is appropriate for third world countries, in Australia, the amount required to meet these basic needs will naturally be much higher because prices of these basic necessities are higher'.

However, as the amount of wealth required for survival is not the same in all places and time periods—particularly in highly developed countries where few people would fall below the World Bank's poverty lines—countries often develop their own national poverty lines.

Poverty can also be measured in relative terms, where the poverty line is set as a proportion of the average income or wealth within society.

There are many different ways to calculate relative poverty, resulting in varying levels of poverty, and researchers often debate where the line should be drawn. For example, the Smith Family and NATSEM (The National Centre for Social and Economic Modelling) report in 2000 indicated as many as 1 in 8 Australians were experiencing poverty. The Centre for Independent Studies (CIS) argues that their research suggests the figure is at least 1 in 12 and could even be as low as 1 in 20. This discrepancy arises because their poverty lines were determined in different ways: