An unlikely survival : the politics of welfare in australia since 1950
Murphy, John, 1954-2024
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An Unlikely Survival takes us through three-quarters of a century of welfare politics in Australia, to contests about political principles, and about what we think is the common good. As both economy and society were transformed, the need for government assistance, alongside the growth of civil society advocacy, became a core part of political debates. Historian John Murphy traces the evolution of welfare - government by government - from Menzies to Morrison, from the postwar era of full male employment to neoliberalism, deregulation and globalism. He ranges across policy areas well beyond Centrelink payments, from wage fixing to work-for-the-dole, from childcare to middle-class tax benefits, from family payments to superannuation, from aged care to Indigenous welfare, and from Medicare to disability support. How did the Hawke-Keating governments square neoliberal economics with reforming social welfare? What did successive governments retain, modify or dismantle? Who were the civil society actors who fought for and against different initiatives? What accounts for the unlikely survival and refurbishment of our welfare system in a world of more diverse families, globalisation, unemployment and the entrenchment of the working poor? An Unlikely Survival explores and attempts to answer some profound questions about policy action and social justice in the past and in contemporary Australia and asks: do we actually want a fairer society - and are we prepared to pay for it?
Main title:
An unlikely survival : the politics of welfare in australia since 1950 / by John Murphy.
Author:
Imprint:
Carlton, Victoria : Melbourne University Press, 2024.
Collation:
xiv, 385 pages, 16 unnumbered pages of plates : colour charts ; 23 cm.
Notes:
Includes bibliographical references and index.
Contents:
Part I : Welfare in a time of prosperity. 1. Resetting welfare2. Tax benefits and social insurance3. Health and the aged4. The middle class and tax welfare. Part II : Welfare after Menzies. 5. Indigenous policy and the welfare committee6. The rediscovery of poverty. Part III : Whitlam and Fraser. 7. Whitlam 1: 'Frinding room for our own program'8. Whitlam 2: 'Not a moment to be lost'9. Whitlam 3: 'Some very painful decisions'10. Fraser's uneasy backlash. Part IV : Hawke and Keating: refurbishment or retreat? 11. Hawke 1: caution and consensus12. Hawke 2: 'Restraint with equity'13. From Hawke to Keating. Part V : Howard and after. 14. The Howard governments15. Culture wars and 'middle-class welfare'16. Revolving doorsEpilogue: The politics of welfare.
ISBN:
9780522880458
Dewey class:
361.994
Language:
English
Subject:
Public welfare -- Australia -- Political aspectsWelfare economicsPublic welfare -- AustraliaCommon goodAustralia -- Social conditions -- 20th centuryAustralia -- History -- 20th centuryAustralia -- History -- 21st centuryAustralia -- Politics and Government -- 20th centuryAustralia -- Politics and Government -- 21st centuryAustralia -- Social policyAustralia -- Politics and Government -- 1945-
BRN:
508564
More Information:
| Location | Collection | Call number | Status/Desc |
|---|---|---|---|
| St Marys | Nonfiction | 361.994 UNL | Available |