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(1987)Working PaperIn this report I describe the results of a study undertaken between June 1986 and May 1987. During this period, I visited 50 families, all of whom had a disabled child between 12 and 16 years of age. I talked to them about the costs they incurred as a consequence of their children's disabilities. The study is quite narrowly focused on economic effects, attempting to tease out only those costs which would not have been incurred had there been no disability. I have been concerned with costs of two kinds: firstly direct costs, money actually spent on meeting the child's needs, and, secondly indirect costs, the income forgone by the family because of the child's special needs and dependency. These latter hidden costs arise because the child's dependency can in some cases prevent one or even both parents from full participation in the labour force. It may also inhibit job mobility or career advancement, and thereby earnings, for those who are able to work full time. It may affect long-term earning capacity by, for example, preventing a parent from undertaking further education essential to the pursuit or enhancement of a particular career. Although this study concentrates on economic costs, parents and others caring for children with disabilities will know that the consequences are by no means exclusively economic. Neither are the economic consequences necessarily of greatest significance to family members. There are many ways in which a child's disability can affect a family. These are likely to vary considerably, according to the age of the child and his or her changing needs, and according to the circumstances of the family. There may also be social consequences, such as isolation of the family from the community, relatives and friends, or emotional consequences leading to the breakdown of marriages or the deterioration of other relationships within the family. There can be consequences for the health of family members, resulting from the physical and mental strain of caring for a disabled child. These effects are not felt equally by all family members.
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(1987)Working PaperThe Social Security Review is currently assessing the extent to which income support policies need to adjust to the changing economic, social and demographic circumstances faced by Australia. These changes have implications for all social welfare policies. Recognition of this led to the selection of the theme for the Conference whose proceedings are contained in this Report. The contributions to the Conference cover many of the important aspects of community services including their finance and provision, as well as issues relating to access, equity and, most important of all, effects on those groups to whom services are directed. The final session of the Conference was devoted to an open forum which gave participants a chance to express their own views on the papers and their experience of contemporary community services. On the question of the overall approach to community service provision, complete uniformity of provision was seen as neither possible nor desirable. Within the overall framework of policy directives and guidelines there was a necessity to accept a diversity of approaches. Some participants argued that while professionalisation of services meant a 'movement upwards', the tasks of service delivery in community services involved a 'movement downwards'. Many tasks in community services were menial, and professionals were not inclined, and often not able, to perform them. This brought in the issue of volunteers in community care, where and how they can be recruited, how they can be organised, and how they should be reimbursed for expenses incurred. Questions were also raised about the ever-present scarcity of resources in community services, from two different perspectives. On the one hand, community services entail a degree of commitment from service providers both professionals and volunteers - to the ethos of community service and to its value. On the other hand, the shift to community-based services seemed to be based on the belief (or hope) that they present a cheaper option than institution-based services. The former perspective can be fulfilled only if the latter was abandoned.
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(1988)Working PaperThis report extends our earlier work by looking at the relationship between poverty and the workforce. It utilises data released by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in the unit records from the 1981-82 Income and Housing Survey. Although the position of the labour market has deteriorated considerably since then, the report brings together an extensive analysis of these data and discusses the implications of subsequent labour market developments. The report thus draws together work on poverty and the broader question of the social welfare implications of labour market changes. The recognition that the alleviation of poverty can only come about in a sustainable way through wider access to employment opportunities has been long-standing in Australia. The Commission of Inquiry into Poverty noted in its first Main Report released in 1975 that 'the dominant factor which determines poverty is whether or not the head of the income unit is able to work' (p.16). The current report emphasises the relevance of this observation to the situation prevailing a decade after the work of the Poverty Commission. The need to recognise the central role of employment and labour market policies aimed at maintaining high employment levels is as pressing now as it ever was. Full employment must be seen as a major objective of both economic and social policy. Fresh emphasis to these concerns has been given by recent government policy initiatives aimed at developing a more effective integration of income support and labour market policies. The need to continue on this path has been reinforced in the recently released Social Security Review Issues Paper, Income Support for the Unemployed in Australia: Towards a More Active System. Although this report was prepared prior to the Social Security Review's paper, I hope that it will contribute to the debate which promises to have a major bearing on the development of income support and labour market policies appropriate for Australia in the 1990s and beyond.
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(1988)Working PaperThis study records the experiences of people involved in the development of a neighbourhood house program in one Australian State - Tasmania. The study was not intended to be, and should not be seen as, an evaluation of that program. Rather, it was undertaken as a case study with the purpose of examining and illustrating the processes which took place in the development of the program and identifying some of the issues that arise in the application of the concepts of community development and self-help. As such, the study should be of interest to the readers and of particular value to those social welfare workers who are interested in becoming (or already are) involved in community work. The empirical data for this report was collected some time ago (late 1985) but the issues analysed in the report are as important today as they have always been. The report analyses the events and processes through which the concept of a neighbourhood house came to be translated into a State-wide program. It examines the various stages in the evolution of the program and identifies some of the dilemmas faced by community groups and professionals in community work. For professional social welfare workers as well as for government and non-government organisations this study poses the question: how can social movements 'from below' be promoted and/or assisted without the movements and the ideas they might want to pursue being 'taken over' and integrated into the system of welfare services directed 'from above'? Can the state through its provision of material and human resources be an enabler without being a controller?
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(1988)Working PaperThis report contains the proceedings of the Conference held in Hobart, Tasmania, on 27 May 1988. The theme of the Conference, Community Services Policy: Economic and Social Implications. The seven papers in this report cover a wide range of issues in community services - issues of efficiency, redistribution, equity, equality, administration of services, service delivery, and occupational welfare. This nexus of interrelated issues lies at the heart of contemporary debate over the role of community services in the welfare state and their impact on social welfare. Together, the papers represent analysis of the spectrum of problems and issues confronting the welfare state from a social policy perspective. While this perspective acknowledges the importance of economic developments to the welfare state debate, it places these in a broader social framework that is central to the discussion. Despite the undoubted importance of the economic arguments, informed debate on the nature and effects of welfare state provisions must encompass this broader perspective. The discussion forum at the Conference raised a number of issues of direct relevance to community services. Problems of measurement in evaluating costs and benefits, economic integration of qualitative aspects of services, the role of local government, particular problems identified in the Home and Community Care (HACC) program, rural / urban differences, and the limitations of resources in certain geographical areas were some major concerns that the participants thought needed more consideration in policy and in the allocation of resources.
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(1989)Working PaperThis report is the proceedings of a special one day conference organised by the Social Welfare Research Centre and held in Sydney on September 23, 1988. The overall theme of the conference. 'Support and Services for People with Disabilities' is important, both in terms of current policy debates in Australia, as well as in relation to the proposed future research agenda of the Social Welfare Research Centre. ‘Welcome’ by Peter Saunders. ‘Trends in Disability Services in New South Wales’ by David Richmond. ‘The Transition of People With Developmental Disabilities to Community Care’ by Sara Graham. ‘Deinstitutionalisation of People with Developmental Disabilities: A New South Wales Evaluation’ by Helen Molony. ‘Families and Community Care’ by Garth Nowland-Foreman. ‘Short and Long Term Perspectives in Policy Development’ by Anna Howe. ‘Overview’ by Jane Woodruff.
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(1989)Working PaperThis report takes as its starting point the view that the nature of any social institution. including a system of income security, is better understood if it is seen in historical depth and historical context. A definitive history of the Australian social security system remains to be written, although the calendar of major events and legislative changes are documented in the writings of Professor T H Kewley and in various publications released by the Commonwealth Department of Social Security. In relation to the subject matter of this report, for example, to know that moral provisions were enacted in 1908, said by the Minister responsible in 1971 to have fallen into disuse and (nearly all) repealed in 1974, is to know very little. The reality of a statutory provision owes much to those who administer it – judges, ministers and public servants and the present paper concentrates on what the administrators did with the provisions, and why they did those things. The moral provisions discussed in the report were never as monstrous in practice as might have been imagined, but they serve to raise the question of the ethical standards and purposes that they brought to the system of income security, and of the obligations imposed on the people who make claims on it. If honest acceptable answers to such questions cannot be found it may be that we are acting as the blind instruments of economic forces at best, or of prejudice at worst.
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(1989)Working PaperThe economic and social structures of Australia and New Zealand have always shared many common features. Both have been strong trading nations, relying on agriculture and other primary produce, as well as raw materials and minerals as a source of export earnings. Both have retained strong economic and political ties to the United Kingdom. Both have indigenous people struggling to maintain their political and cultural identity in societies where the mainstream has followed trends in Britain and, to a lesser extent, North America. Finally, both have a similar demographic structure, but one that is strikingly different from most European countries, being characterised by a population comprising more younger people and far fewer elderly people than their European counterparts. Events in Australia and New Zealand in the eighties have further strengthened the perception of similarity in the experience of both countries. With Labor Governments elected to office in the first half of the decade, both faced a similar immediate economic problem of how to confront a loss of traditional export markets in an international economy far more open to competitive forces than in earlier decades. Trade protection of the agricultural and other key sectors - the traditional response in both countries - appeared no longer to be a feasible option either economically or politically. In the event, the new governments adopted broadly similar economic strategies characterised by deregulation, fiscal restraint and public sector reform. These policies have not been pursued at no cost to social policy, and in both countries there has been considerable disquiet at the possibility that social justice has been the victim of policies driven by the dictates of economic rationalism. The papers in this Report represent the beginning of an attempt to assess the extent to which this has been the case. A fuller account will need to wait several more years, although it will hopefully be prepared in due course.
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(1989)Working PaperThis report contains each of the invited papers presented to the National Social Policy Conference held at the University of New South Wales from 5-7 July 1989. The title of the report repeats the overall theme selected for the Conference, 'Social Policy in Australia: What Future for the Welfare State?' The Conference was structured around the following five specific themes: i) The Ideology, Philosophy and Political Environment of Social Policy ii) The Economic Environment of Social Policy iii) Income Maintenance and Income Security iv) Community Resources and Services v) From Policy to Practice Six reports of the conference proceedings were published in the Social Policy Research Centre Reports and Proceedings series with the following numbers and titles: No. 79 Volume 1: Plenary Sessions edited by Peter Saunders and Adam Jamrozik. No. 80 Volume 2: Concurrent Sessions. Contributions form the Social Policy Research Centre. edited by Peter Saunders. No. 81 Volume 3: Concurrent Sessions. The Ideology, Philosophy and Political Environment of Social Policy, edited by Adam Jamrozik. No. 82 Volume 4: Concurrent Sessions. Social Policies in Australia and New Zealand, edited by Russell Ross. No. 83 Volume 5: Concurrent Sessions. Income Maintenance and Income Security, edited by Peter Whiteford. No. 84 Volume 6: Concurrent Sessions. Community Services: Policy and Practice, edited by Sara Graham.