Australian Politics and Policy - Senior, 2019a

Social policy
Australia. 19 They involved an extensive program, including increased expenditure
on public housing, a revision of school funding rules to recognise level of need,
the removal of all fees for tertiary students, and the introduction of the country’s
first universal health care, Medibank. 20 Whitlam also established an Indigenous
land rights scheme in the Northern Territory (NT) and announced an explicit
shift in social policy focus for Indigenous Australians from ‘protection’ to selfdetermination.
21
In the late 1980s and early 1990s, Australia experienced some further fundamental
social policy shifts, including major pension reforms and the introduction
of the Working Nation policy, which signalled a transition away from the public
provision of unemployment support services to a quasi-market model. 22 This was
coupled with the introduction of ‘active labour’ policies from 1986 onwards, which
placed increased conditions on unemployment benefits. 23 Social policy under
recent Australian governments has been comparatively conservative and routinely
underpinned by neoliberal arguments about reciprocity, the benefits of market
provision and individual responsibility. 24 However, the overall size of Australia’s
welfare expenditure envelope has nevertheless increased.
Recent social welfare expenditure in Australia
Australia’s welfare expenditure increased from $117 billion in 2006–7 to $157
billion in 2015–16, representing a growth of 3.4 per cent per annum. 25 Simultaneously,
expenditure on health between 1989 and 2014 increased from 6.5 per
cent to 9.7 per cent of Australia’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). 26 In 2015–16,
the Australian government also lost a total of $47 billion in tax expenditures, which
is additional to the total welfare expenditure reported above. 27 Finally, the sheer
number of people involved in delivering welfare services has also increased, with
the ‘welfare workforce’ growing by 84 per cent since 2005 and representing 4.1 per
cent of the total Australian workforce in 2015. 28
Klapdor and Arthur frame these increases as being largely a result of
‘population growth, population ageing, labour market changes and economic
19 McDougall 2015.
20 McDougall 2015. Medibank was later weakened under the Fraser government (1975–83) before
being revitalised as Medicare under Hawke (1983–91).
21 Sanders 2013.
22 Marston, McDonald and Bryson 2014; van Hooren, Kaasch and Starke 2014.
23 Deeming 2016.
24 For example, see Johnson 2011; Ryan 2005.
25 AIHW 2017.
26 AIHW 2016.
27 AIHW 2017.
28 AIHW 2017.
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