Abstract
This year's Conference was divided into five broad social policy themes: Social Policy and the Economy; Ideas, Ideology and the Welfare State; Family, Community and the State in Social Care; Inequality; and Work and Welfare. In line with the overall Conference theme, paper-givers were encouraged to examine the fundamental purposes, frameworks and methods of Australian social policy, and put these in the context of the far-reaching changes taking place in Australia's society, culture and development.
The call to 're-think the fundamentals' on so many levels resulted in an exciting mix and range of papers. The fourteen papers in this volume alone cover topics as varied as job growth, youth homelessness, privatisation, care and disability, retirement, poverty, credit-rating agencies, the family, Aboriginal welfare, men's and women's welfare states, and the long-term unemployed.