Sydney 28 July 2010: The poor and marginalised will be left out of this year's federal election debate as leaders focus on middle Australia, the Christian charity Anglicare says.

Recent Australian elections had been fought to "capture the hearts and minds" of the population's middle 40 per cent, Anglicare Sydney CEO Peter Kell said. "And this election is shaping up to be, unfortunately, no different," he said.

Mr Kell was launching a report titled The Depth and Diversity of Social Exclusion. It outlines disadvantages experienced by three main groups in Sydney - people who access Anglicare Sydney's emergency relief centre, African refugees and the ageing parents of people with a disability. The report was likely to be unpopular, Mr Kell said. "It contains uncomfortable truths," Mr Kell said.

Co-author Sue King said she hoped the report would prompt governments to take notice of the poor and marginalised. "We actually want to put this on the election agenda," she said.

The report focuses on "social exclusion", the isolation felt by people who suffer from a combination of problems such as unemployment, poor housing, bad health and family breakdown. Monica Biel, a migrant and refugee services worker at Anglicare, said many African refugees came to her for help with housing. Because of language barriers many of them were taken advantage of by real estate agents or landlords, she said.

She cited the case of a woman who was receiving benefits from Centrelink but only had $20 a fortnight left after paying exorbitant rent.

Permanent housing was the main way governments could help African refugees, Ms Biel said. Without a settled home, people could not actively participate in their communities.

"Every six months they move to a different place and it's creating a lot of mental illness, suicide ... breakdowns, children run away," she said.

"I have the right for voting (but) if I move from area to area to area, I will not know even my local council.”How could I vote?"

Federal opposition MP Malcolm Turnbull, who attended the launch, said he supported the findings of the report. People should not confuse the African refugees with the current political debate about asylum seekers, Mr Turnbull said.

"You're really talking about two very different things. The African refugees that were here have not come by boat, they've come from some of the toughest refugee camps in the world," he said. (AAP)