Extreme postcodes: 2165

Fairfield East is the Sydney suburb with the lowest average taxable income. I'm not at all sure how well this relates to genuine poverty. Maybe everyone's got a job, though a low paid one, or maybe they've all got good jobs but they're just better at minimising their tax than most. But it's the best guide we've got.

What does it look like, this possibly poorest suburb? I thought I'd better go there and find out.

It doesn't look all that flash, but not particularly down-at-heel either. There were indeed abandoned shopping trolleys in what passed as the local park, and I was tempted to lead this piece with the cliche abandoned shopping trolley shot. But that wouldn't have been fair. There are abandoned shopping trolleys all over Sydney, even in the ritziest of suburbs.

There were certainly a lot of small, old,  fibro or weatherboard houses. There's a worse-for-wear corner shop, and a middle-of-the road little shopping strip. But the old houses are being steadily replaced, I noticed with new, fancier dwellings, McMansions even. So there is some money around.

The nearby town centre of Fairfield proper seems to be thriving. It's lively, interesting, and very cosmopolitan. It seems to have doubled in size since I used to drop by on my way home from work ten years or so ago. The good folk of Fairfield East are probably well served for most services then.





So I've seen many a worse place to live than Fairfield East.