Diary of Social Legislation and Policy 1980

Abstract

This Diary summarises the legislative and administrative changes made in the social welfare field by the Commonwealth government during 1980. It provides a ready reference for research workers, and can also be used as a succinct and factual account of policy during the year.

Like its predecessors this Diary makes only incidental mention of State and local government policies. Were resources much greater it would be very useful to add State legislative and administrative events to the record, but for the moment this must remain an unfulfilled hope. It will also be noted that except for the section on immigration, which covers events for both 1979 and 1980, the present Diary covers 1980 only.

This leaves 1979 as a gap between the end of the diaries contained in the Public expenditures volumes and the beginning of the present series. We hope to be able to fill this gap and will publish the results as supplements to future issues. The Diary covers the main areas of social welfare policy apart from education. However it makes no mention of general economic policy. For this area the reader is referred to the 'Diary of recent economic events and policy statements' included in each issue of the Australian economic review.