FALSE PRINCIPLES OF WELFARE REFORM

Welfare reform both in Australia and throughout the OECD invokes various moral principles. These are articulated in arguments about ‘consent’, on both a micro‐ and macro‐level, and the ‘mutual obligation’ that ostensibly arises from consent. There are also frankly ‘paternalistic’ arguments, whether weak or strong, to the effect that forcing people into work is good for them. A critical assessment demonstrates that none of these arguments can justify the kind of welfare reform which is currently mooted. The real aim of such reform seems instead to be simply that of ‘clearing the welfare rolls ’. This has worrying ethical consequences.     

AUSTRALIAN WELFARE REFORM: FROM CITIZENSHIP TO SOCIAL ENGINEERING

This paper examines the changes in the terms of citizen‐state relations that are coded in Australia's current program of welfare reform. It argues that welfare reform entails a shift from welfare as a limited social right of citizenship to welfare as a form of support conditional upon completing specified obligations, and from the provision of support as a cash payment to support coupling cash with personal services. Together, these shifts have the scope transform the relation between citizen and state fundamentally. This is no less than a shift from social policy citizenship in which claimants are presumed to act on their own behalf to paternalistic support and care directed to reforming character and values as well as to meeting need. The paper argues that this shift violates the fundamental equality essential to social policy citizenship.     

MUTUAL OBLIGATION AND THE WELFARE RESPONSIBILITIES OF GOVERNMENT

Significant forces mean that governments are reassessing their responsibilities for welfare. The welfare changes introduced by the Howard Government have a strong role for mutual obligation. After reviewing the meaning of welfare, the historic welfare responsibilities of government and the impact of social and economic change, three key objectives for a current Australian Government are proposed. These are to protect the vulnerable, to develop capacity to function effectively in a more difficult environment and to promote social cohesion. The paper examines whether the current application of mutual obligation assists their achievement, concluding that all are compromised. Protection is compromised by the reduction in levels of income support payments, often to very marginalised and vulnerable individuals. Capacity building is undermined by the limited activities and choices available and social cohesion is affected by the divisions created by mutual obligation and the lack of attention to institution building.     

小泉结构改革的“突破口”——日本的“特区”改革评析

20 0 2年 12月 11日 ,日本国会两院通过了《结构改革特别区域法》 ,正式开始实施以建立“特区”为特征、以“规制改革”为主要内容的改革进程。这一改革被视作“小泉结构改革”的“突破口”。本文从分析“结构改革”、“规制改革”的概念入手 ,对这一改革的背景、过程、内容、特点和前景作了简要分析和评述。     

THE INTELLECTUAL ORIGINS OF ‘WELFARE DEPENDENCY’

‘Welfare dependency’ has become a key term in policy debate in the United States and, more recently, Australia. In this article I explore the intellectual origins of the term, looking specifically at the writings of George Gilder and Charles Murray, two commentators whose (often polemically presented) ideas were influential within the Reagan Administration and have been at the forefront of a conservative renewal in welfare debate generally. Although others have subsequently refined some of their arguments and proposals, the authors' central claim that welfare causes dependency and thus unemployment and poverty – and that welfare reform therefore needs to focus on changing the behaviour of welfare recipients rather than providing employment opportunities – has had a lasting political impact, in Australia as much as in the US.     

青岛市儿童福利院

抢抓机遇敢为人先青岛市儿童福利院以蓝天计划为核心,勇于进取与探索,在全国率先打造蓝天文化品牌,创建城乡一体工疗康复中心,聘任民营企业家为福利院名誉院长。同时,积极争取市劳动局、市财政局、市人事局联合下发事业编制管理岗位     

PARTICIPATION AND THE NEW WELFARE

Current discussions of welfare reform are influenced by various kinds of talk about ‘participation’. Three are predominant in Australia: talk of self‐sufficiency, paying your dues, and team effort. All imply a local/associational/voluntary model of society which deflects attention from broader structural and economic factors. This prevailing treatment of ‘participation’ is heavily biased, ignoring alternative interpretations such as the older tradition that emphasises rights. The general discourse it underwrites is at best ineffective and quite likely dangerous.     

小泉改革加速 短期阵痛难免——近期日本加速改革的政策措施评析

2002年，日本推出了一系列政策和措施，其中最引人注目的是10月30日公布的“加速改革综合对策”。尽管日本国内对这套改革方案存在很大争议，但它所设计的各项政策措施正在加紧落实，与之配套、对其进行补充的各项措施也陆续出台。这些表明，日本的改革步伐明显加快。本文在概括介绍近期日本加速改革政策措施的基础上，就这些政策措施的特点、引起的反响及其可能带来的效果等作了分析。     

EXPOSING ADOPTION MYTHS: ACCESS TO INFORMATION ABOUT ORIGINS IN VICTORIA

Victoria was the first State to allow adopted persons unqualified access to their original identity and to provide natural parents and others with conditional access to identifying information. This article examines findings from 1985 to 1988 to examine four assumptions. These are that: few adoptees would want to know about or meet their natural parents and so few would register with the Adoption Information Service; few adoptees would welcome an approach from or on behalf of their natural parents and most would reject such an approach; few relinquishing parents would wish to meet or know about their relinquished child and consequently most would reject an approach by or on behalf of their child; and adoptive parents would not wish to acknowledge the adoptive status of their children by providing information to the natural parent facilitating a meeting between the natural parent and the child. The data suggest that the above assumptions do not reflect the experience or behaviour of adopted persons, natural parents or adoptive parents.     

PHARMACEUTICAL BENEFITS IN AUSTRALIA AND SWEDEN: WELFARE POLICY AND THE COST OF PRESCRIPTION DRUGS

Pharmaceutical benefits provide a stable framework within which consumers, prescribers, suppliers, pharmacists and other actors undertake transactions. The state in effect delivers a good that enhances individual autonomy. A major reason for the legitimacy enjoyed by pharmaceutical benefits in both Australia and Sweden is that these programs have strong attributes of universalism (rather than targeting). Sweden's predominantly public health system allows greater scope for pharmaceutical policy innovation. Australia's Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS), while historically resilient and effective, is now wedged precariously between traditional considerations of equity and public health on the one hand, and constant pressure for increased marketisation on the other.     

GIS,ADMINISTRATIVE REFORM AND LOCAL GOVERNMENT: THE ISSUE OF PRIVACY

Geographic Information Systems (GIS) offer a good technical solution for the handling of large data bases in public administration. However, GIS also poses a problem in terms of ‘information privacy’. At State and Federal levels of administration in Australia, the issue of privacy, is being addressed through various administrative and legislative processes. At Local Government level, GIS technology is now being introduced at a fairly rapid rate, but as yet, there has been little discussion of the issue of privacy at that level. This article discusses the issue of privacy at Local Government level, and suggests that there is a pressing need to introduce some administrative reforms.     

THE FAMILY AND THE AUSTRALIAN WELFARE STATE

This article discusses, by example, recent trends in government welfare policies and their impact on Australian families. Focus is on the move towards privatisation and the development of the ‘complex interventionist state’.