Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Social policy
structures can either establish the architecture that enables or denies this access and
engagement (like promoting access to quality early childhood care). 2 Social policy
can, therefore, have direct and substantial impacts on how people live their lives,
the choices available to them, and their overall standard of living. Social policy
decisions are also often highly politicised and deeply contested as the meeting of
human needs has both a moral and material dimension.
This chapter explores some fundamental characteristics of social policy
including a brief history of social policy in Australia, how it is made, by whom,
and key debates. As you will see, social policy plays a powerful role in shaping how
society operates, how it redistributes wealth, how it cares for and controls its most
disadvantaged members, and provides tax breaks for middle and upper income
Australians. Summing up the role of the conflicted welfare state in an essay titled
‘What is social policy?’, the pioneering scholar of social administration Richard
Titmusswrotethat‘whatis“welfare”forsomegroupsmaybe“illfare”forothers’. 3
In this chapter we seek to draw out these dilemmas and contradictions.
Social policy in Australia: recent history
Prior to Federation in 1901, social welfare in Australia was largely the purview
of non-government charitable organisations. Smyth described Australian colonial
society as being ‘cool’ when it came to government-provided welfare, but ‘hot’ on
promoting equal opportunity. 4 The focus was on supporting citizens to be selfsufficient
rather than looking to government for poverty relief. This represented a
contrast to the (often stigmatised) provision of state welfare under the Poor Laws in
Britain. 5
Dickey described the years following Federation as being characterised by a
transition away from an age of charity to an age of rights. 6 The Harvester Judgement,
handed down by Justice Higgins of the Court of Conciliation and Arbitration in
1907, established the first minimum ‘living wage’ for Australian workers. 7 In 1908,
the new Australian government also introduced a fixed-rate old-age pension, though
this was not universal. For example, only those who passed the means test qualified
and some groups, like Indigenous Australians, were explicitly excluded.
Thereafter, around the Second World War, Australia’s welfare system was
dramatically redefined and expenditure increased exponentially. 8 As Shaver
explained, ‘Australia entered World War II with only fragmentary welfare provision:
2 Gupta and Simonsen 2016; Lamy 2012.
3 Titmuss 1974, 4.
4 Smyth 2012, 2.
5 Smyth 2011.
6 Dickey 1980.
7 Lloyd 2017.
8 Watts 1999; Watts 1987.
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