"It's time to share the pie and advance Australia fair," Australian Council of Social Service chief executive Dr Cassandra Goldie told the National Press Club on Tuesday.

The sentiment comes as a new report has revealed more than three million Australians are living in poverty, including 739,000 children.

That equates to about one-in-eight adults and one-in-six children.

The research by ACOSS and the University of New South Wales sets the poverty line at 50 per cent below the nation's average income, meaning $433 a week for a single adult or $909 for a couple with two children.

On average, those living in poverty in Australia are missing those marks by $135 a week.

About half (53 per cent) of households living in poverty are relying on social security as their main source of income, the report shows.

But more than a third (38 per cent) are relying on wages.

Dr Goldie said Australia must do better at addressing poverty, with the national rate of 13.2 per cent about the same as it was in 1999.

"Too many children, too many adults experience the shame of not having enough," she said.

The solutions for tackling poverty are clear, she said, with a need to improve the adequacy of the social security safety net, including boosting Newstart and youth allowance payments by $75 a week.

That would cost the federal government $3.3 billion, but Dr Goldie said ACOSS suggests to the government a set of measures it could take to find those funds every year.

Dr Goldie said more affordable housing and rent assistance is also needed, along with an overhaul of employment services.

Tackling poverty is not about assisting a marginal group, but addressing a problem that any Australian could face, she stressed.

That's an idea Albury woman Emily Lightfoot understands well.

Ms Lightfoot was running her own accounting business when health issues struck a year ago and meant she couldn't keep up her workload.

With a child to care for, Ms Lightfoot began receiving Newstart and draws on her background as an accountant to budget every cent of it.

But she said it is simply not enough.

"My income coming in is less than what it actually costs to live, despite all of my efforts at being frugal," she told AAP.

"If someone like me is having problems with it...I hate to think what other people are going through who are also on this payment."

Despite the struggles many like Ms Lightfoot are experiencing, Dr Goldie said she's optimistic of change.

"We are, at our heart, a compassionate country," she said.

Australian Associated Press