Final answer:
Geographical processes contributing to inequality in Australia include urbanization, transportation, access to resources, and economic activities. These processes favor developed areas, increasing wealth concentration and exacerbating regional disparities.
Step-by-step explanation:
The growing inequality in Australia can be attributed to several geographical processes, including:
- Urbanization - This is the movement of people from rural areas to cities. It has concentrated wealth in urban centers while rural areas, especially the extensive arid interior known as the outback, have lagged economically.
- Transportation - The development of transportation networks often favors areas that are already economically developed, thus enhancing their growth while leaving less developed regions relatively inaccessible and economically stagnant.
- Access to and availability of resources - Australia is known for its vast agricultural lands and as a leading producer of wool, but the distribution of such resources is uneven, contributing to regional disparities.
- Economic activities - The focus on large-scale agriculture and resource extraction has led to wealth concentration in hands of those who own these operations, potentially widening the gap between the rich and poor.
Australia's core-periphery spatial relationship, where the core includes economically developed urban centers and the periphery consists of less developed rural interiors, plays a role in perpetuating these inequalities. Furthermore, global factors such as technological changes have increased the demand for high-skilled labor, exacerbating wage disparities between high-skilled and low-skilled workers.