Search

This paper examines some critical issues and opportunities for democracy and public policy posed by the growth of the global progress measurement movement. From the democratic perspective, these include: citizen progress measurement as a form of democratic re-engagement; the re-examination of democracy and the development of new indicators to define and measure a 'healthy' democracy; and the demonstration of clear linkages between healthy regimes, and broader individual and societal wellbeing. In public policy, the global movement challenges two long dominant assumptions: the primacy of continuous economic growth as the key driver of wellbeing; and the 'inevitability of progress'. In their place, it offers a more holistic, integrated and nuanced model that recognises the interdependence of economic, social, cultural, environmental and democratic dimensions for genuine wellbeing, progress and sustainability. The paper reviews work in Australia over the past decade at both local community and national levels as examples of these trends, including the development of citizen-engaged community planning and neighbourhood renewal schemes in which progress and wellbeing indicators play a central role; the development of state-wide local progress measurement frameworks as part of a commitment to devolved planning and stronger local democracy; and the evolution of national progress measurement systems. The paper concludes with a proposal for a broad community engaged National Development Index (NDI) for Australia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Shared Responsibility Agreements (SRAs) are a key instrument of the Federal Government's new arrangements for the administration of Indigenous affairs. SRAs, described by the Government as a form of ‘mutual obligation’, require Indigenous communities to commit to behavioural changes or other actions in order to access ‘discretionary’ government funding for infrastructure or services. There are significant political, moral and practical issues raised by SRAs. In this paper we contend that despite the language of mutuality, flexibility and choice that accompanies SRAs, the approach appears more aptly associated with ‘divide and conquer’ tactics and a subtle shifting of responsibility for problems from governments to Indigenous communities themselves. In this paper we explore the concepts of mutual obligation and reciprocity, the structural biases that favour the state and its agencies over Indigenous communities in the SRA negotiation process, and issues of citizenship entitlements and accountability that are raised. Finally, acknowledging that SRAs can be a means for Indigenous communities to access greatly needed funding, we suggest various strategies and measures that could be taken up to make the SRA framework more equitable and effective. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Over the last decade, the spatial or geographical nature of social and economic indices has proliferated. It is well understood that there are geographical variations in prices, particularly housing prices. What we do not know is relative wages - that is, given a wage in one place, what is the wage to attain the same standard of living in another place. Utilising recent budget standard research, this paper calculates relative salaries for Brisbane, Sydney, Melbourne, Perth and Adelaide. It is found that in 2006 households in Sydney, Melbourne and Perth respectively require on average 24%, 7% and 4% more private income than equivalent Brisbane households to achieve the same standard of living, whereas Adelaide residents require 7% less private income than Brisbane residents. Changes in these relativities from 2003 to 2006 are examined. The public policy responses to such findings are also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Since the early 1980s Australian public policy has undergone the most major transformation since Federation. This transformation has been underwritten by two key principles: liberalism - the view that citizens are autonomous individual actors whose interests are best served when they are free from coercive government interventions into individual action; and marketisation - the belief that free markets are arenas which best enable individual autonomy and produce efficient economic outcomes. These principles define ‘neoliberalism’ or ‘hard liberalism’. After summarising the major policy changes identified with neoliberalism in Australia, the paper introduces a new research project that examines its impact on socioeconomic inequality, gender inequality and politics and culture. Inspection of relevant data indicates that there are important trends in inequality, public opinion and political behaviour that warrant this investigation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper relates to the Australian government's community awareness campaign, as part of the Action Plan to Eradicate Trafficking in Persons, which was announced in October 2003 in response to evidence of human trafficking in Australia. The authors explore the challenges that are likely to be encountered during the implementation of the campaign using empirical data from two Victorian studies, the first of which explored community awareness of trafficking and the second of which examined Victoria Police and local government's responses to trafficking. We conclude that there are significant barriers to both the community and authorities identifying suspicious activities and acting on reports by community. In addition, institution challenges faced by Victoria police and local government in dealing with referred information appropriately will jeopardise the success of the initiative. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A review of research on transnationalism shows that diasporas with transnational orientations and connections tend to have a strong attachment to local and global identities but a weak attachment to the nation state. In addition, it is argued that territorial nation states are losing their authority in an increasingly globalised and interconnected world. Governments in western democracies have responded by tightening restrictions on citizenship and placing more emphasis on social cohesion and integration rather than multiculturalism. Using the Australian Survey of Social Attitudes (2003), this paper examines attachment to cultural conceptions of national identity among the Asian Australian diaspora and examines the existing literature about the relationship between transmigrants and the nation state. Findings from the study reveal a number of social determinants behind variation in emotional attachment to cultural conceptions of national identity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The giving of time and money, mainly to private nonprofit organisations is not trivial, but in Australia has been little studied. This article introduces a special issue of the Australian Journal of Social Issues which draws on data collected in the largest study of giving and volunteering conducted in Australia hitherto. It seeks to establish terminological guidelines and reviews past Australian research on giving and volunteering, arguing that there has been a disproportionate interest in volunteering. It seeks to put to rest some common myths about giving and explores whether the increase in giving and volunteering can be attributed to government policy. It concludes by introducing the other papers in the collection. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia recently enacted welfare-to-work reforms for sole parents, the partially disabled and the long-term unemployed. At the same time, it enacted labour law reforms which dismantled labour law award protections in favour of 'individual bargaining'. This paper argues that the combined effect of these reforms not only brings about closer integration between social security and labour law, but also increases the 'disciplinary' controls over the lives of welfare clients, while also degrading the conditions of the most vulnerable welfare clients, whether they are in work (on reduced employment conditions) or on welfare (on less generous benefits). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Households provide their members with both financial support and caring services. In sole parent households, the functions of earning money and caring for children fall to one individual. Current government policy favours work force participation as the solution to the higher poverty rates in lone parent families, but this may have a mirror effect on their ability to provide care. There is a great deal of research into the financial impacts of sole motherhood, but very little into the amount of time that sole parents' devote to care of their children, and what this means for their total (paid and unpaid) work commitments. In this paper I address this research gap. I analyse the Australian Bureau of Statistics Time Use Survey 1997 (over 4000 randomly selected households), to compare sole and couple parents' overall time commitments to paid and unpaid work and to investigate whether time spent with children in lone parent and couple-headed families differs in type or quantity. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social capital and community capacity have become key concepts in social policy responses to marginalised individuals and communities. Policy making has occurred in the context of heated debate about the roles of government and business institutions in strengthening community capacities. In this paper, we wilt explore theoretical positions about the role that these institutions play in building local social capital. We argue that the dominant conceptions of social capital in Australia fail to recognise the potential for non-local institutions to strengthen local community capacity. Drawing on a study of four geographically diverse communities we show that a substantial proportion of community members were disconnected from non-local government and business institutions. We conclude with some initial suggestions for extending the social capital discourse to recognise and build the role of non-local institutions in strengthening local communities. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In this paper, we report data drawn from a larger project on the functioning of the Queensland community service delivery system, particularly that providing services to people with disabilities. Our reasoning for focusing at this level is that, from the service user's perspective,support is derived from the service delivery system, not just individual service providers. Defining the service delivery system as formal services and informal support networks, we undertook interviews and focus groups with service providers in six areas in Queensland: inner urban, outer urban, rural and remote. The period on which we report is one in which considerable reform activity had been undertaken by funding bodies of the Commonwealth and State governments. We report on those factors we identified which promote the integrated functioning of the service delivery system, as well as those factors that disrupt it. We conclude with a brief evaluative analysis of the current status of the system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

State and local governments in Western Australia increasingly identify 'community development' as a key approach for the delivery of community services. In this paper I explore how the concept of community development is understood and practiced by workers in the context of government community services. While definitions are most often presented as a universally understood approach, my key argument is: that there are instead, community development 'discourses' that are variously applied to diverse situations. Foucauldian notions of discourse and power are used to propose that, while there may be core and recognisable traits found within the language of community development, in any given situation these combine with a number of variables (most notably stemming from the organization responsible for community services) to form a 'situated' community development discourse. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 'Third Way' politics of Blair's New Labour government of the United Kingdom has popularised a number of policy reforms centred on a supposedly new discourse of 'devolution', 'inclusion', 'partnerships' and 'community'. These notions reflect a re-emergence of the ideas and values of civil society, participation and localism. Key drivers of this discourse are: new conceptions of citizenship; a retreat from the social state to a politics of community; and a questioning of both 'big-state' interventionist and competitive market approaches to public policy. These trends have resonance in the Australian context. The welfare reform agenda of the Australian Commonwealth government together with community building and engagement initiatives of State governments have been sites for these policy directions. Much of the debate surrounding these policies excludes or minimises the fundamental role of an active state by focusing on an uncritical conception of community. Drawing on the notion of network governance, an alternative framework for re-conceptualising state-community relations and delivering improved community outcomes is posited. The paper concludes by suggesting possible social governance methodologies for actioning this framework. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper argues that the changes to the delivery of labour exchange assistance to the unemployed, initiated in the 1996 Federal Budget, are unlikely to deliver on the promise of `Helping Australians into Real Jobs'. The changes posited by the government are more realistically viewed as a trend to divesting itself of cost intensive functions through the mechanisms of corporatisation and privatisation. Through an analysis of service expectations, the author suggests that the creation of the employment services market will neither build confidence in the Government's strategy to contain unemployment, nor have a positive impact on reducing levels of unemployment. PEPE Ltd, the government owned employment placement enterprise, faces an interesting future as it competes in an open employment services marketplace. It is further suggested that the privatisation trend has serious implications for equitable service delivery to unemployed Australians. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Australia's immigration policies have had a dramatic effect on school populations, especially in the state of New South Wales which receives about 40 per cent of the intake. This paper is based on a study that was carried out for the Bureau of Immigration. Multicultural and Population Research and the NSW Ministry of Education. The study revealed that many turn-English speaking background pupils miss out on English as a second language tuition, community languages are allowed to lapse and aspects of the school environment, such as relations between different groups, are not given the attention that they deserve. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]