A future for the Australian welfare state? Continuity and Change from Howard to Rudd

Continuity and Change from Howard to Rudd

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Date: 9am to 5pm; Friday 25 July 2008
Venue: W5C 220, Macquarie University

Speakers include: Francis Castles, Susan St John, Ann Harding 

Cost: $30 ($20 for Macquarie staff) includes lunch.

Limited spaces: Register (download flyer) and pay by Friday 27 June.

Contact: Shaun.Wilson@mq.edu.au or phone (02) 9850 8074 begin_of_the_skype_highlighting              (02) 9850 8074      end_of_the_skype_highlighting

 

Conference aims

This conference takes up questions confronting the Australian welfare state. Over the past quarter century, Australia's welfare model has changed dramatically in design and size. While working families have benefited from one of the most generous family assistance policies in the OECD, welfare-to-work reforms have made basic social security payments increasingly conditional. Meanwhile, a second tier of 'middle class' welfare has opened up, using tax expenditures to deliver benefits and subsidising private services at the expense of public provision. Labor has been the party of welfare state modernisation in Australia. This conference addresses questions about how the Howard welfare legacy will shape the new Labor government's program, and what we can expect in policy re-design.

Over the day, we'll consider:

• the changing design of the Australian welfare state
  (Francis Castles)
• the problem of tax expenditures as a means of social provision
  (Ben Spies Butcher and Adam Stebbing)
• the winners and losers of the Howard tax-transfer system
  (Ann Harding) and;
• how the public perceives winners and losers over the last ten years
  (Gabrielle Meagher and Shaun Wilson)

To place Australia comparatively, we'll hear from:

• Susan St John on the New Zealand Labour's decade-long experience and lessons for Australia
• Francis Castles on Australia's changing place among welfare states

This lecture is sponsored by the Centre for Social Research on Inclusion and the Department of Sociology at Macquarie University