Australian social policy and social work practice
Professor Lesley ChenowethGriffith University Queensland, Australia
Overview
Australian social welfare overview
Social work in AustraliaDiscussion & Questions
The Australian context
Australian post-war welfare state – British origins
Wage earners welfare state (Castles, 1983)
Federated model – Commonwealth & State responsibilities
Tiers of Government
The Australian context
Macro changes over the past two decades◦Economic globalisation◦Rise of neo-classical economics◦New public management◦Downsizing the welfare state
Shift in distribution of income, power & resources
The public sector The private sector
The bottom 70 % wage /salary earners
The top 10 % corporations
Small business Big business
The ‘bush’ The city
Consumers Producers
Households The market
(Pusey 2003)
Welfare reformGradual dismantling of the welfare state
over last 20 yearsGlobal economic forces – tariff removals,
reconfigured industry and domestic labour market
Old reliance on full-time, life long employment now redundant
OECD recommendations – undoing of social citizenship rights under income security policies
(McDonald & Chenoweth, 2006)
Welfare reformReduction of welfare Initially target- long-term unemployed (1990s)
Development of WorkfareFocus on obligations rather than rights
More recently since 2005◦people with disabilities ◦single parents
Key features of current welfare provisions
Highly targetedFunded by general revenueLow levels of paymentPeople on benefits live with
significant financial stressDecreasing levels of public
support for some payments - eg unemployed (Ziguras, 2006)
Social issues – current Social issues – current
Child protection Ageing populationHealth Indigenous AustraliansDisabilityHomelessnessRefugees and asylum seekersRegional and rural communitiesThe social inclusion agenda
Australians enjoy one of the longest life expectancies in the world
1. 2001 data 2. 2004 dataNote: Ireland, Italy and Luxembourg excluded from 2004 OECD life expectancy dataSource: OECD, Health Data 2005; Productivity Commission, Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage (2007) "Strategic Areas For Action"
Life expectancy at birth in top 20 OECD countries: 2005
However Indigenous Australians have an
average life expectancy of 59.4
for men and 64.8 for women1
For more on Indigenous health and disadvantage, see The Future of Indigenous Australia
82
81.3Switzerland
81.2Iceland80.9Australia
80.7Spain
80.6Sweden
Norway79.6New Zealand
79.5Austria
79.4Ireland
Italy
79.4Netherlands79.3Greece
Canada2
Finland
78.7Belgium
78.5Korea
0 76
82.1
78
79.3
80
Japan
Life expectancy at birth (years)
Luxembourg
79.0Germany79.0United Kingdom
78.9
80.2France 80.3
80.4
80.1
2
Social work in Australia In 1939, the first degree level social work program at Uni of
Sydney. In 2010, 26 degree programs across Australia Social work –BSW degree MSW Professional body – Australian Association of Social Workers AASW AASW accredits programs including a 4-year BSocWk, 2-year
graduate entry and since 2008, a Masters ‘qualifying’ program (Healy & Lonne, 2010)
Social workers employed in:◦ Federal government– eg Centrelink
◦ State governments – eg child protection , health , disability, mental health
◦ Community sector - large charities, faith based agencies, small to medium organisations
◦ Private practice - increasing
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Social work in Australia
Social work is not a registered profession unlike in UK, USA and New Zealand (Lonne & Duke 2008)
Participation rate of low income students in Higher Education is lower than representation in the community, and static since 2002
Significant reforms since 1986 have led to greater co-operation between higher education and Vocational Education sector (in Healy & Lonne, 2010) and improved pathways from VET sector into Higher Education
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Trends in Social Work and Human Services
Human services – 4th fastest industry sector
Demand for qualified practitioners is high
Rural and remote recruitment and retention
Some sectors employing 3 year trained graduates – eg child protection, NGOs
Casualisation of workforceMore flexible modes of delivery
Trends in Social Work and Human Services
Decreased professional autonomy Management of risk (Healy& Meagher, 2004;
Baines,2006)
Move to use of ICT technologies – call centres, on line counselling
Use of computer technology for surveillance of clients?
Fly in fly out service delivery to remote areas
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Centrelink Centrelink Government agency administers eligibility,
payments and complianceEmploys large numbers of social workers (650+)Sites of service delivery – offices and call centresHighly technologised (ICT) service delivery Coordinates Australia disaster social work
responses eg: Asian tsunami Victorian bushfires Bali bombings
On a typical day, Centrelink IT supports 55,000 business function points in 14 million lines of code through 8000 functions on 3200 screens to 31,000 desktops and 400 LAN servers in 1000 sites. This means that 13,000 users concurrently generate 12 million online transactions each day on 14 million customer records (Vardon, 2003)
Questions and Discussion
Does Australia have too many levels of government and service delivery?
What do you think are the main features of social welfare in Australia?
How are they different/ similar to Norway?
What do you see as the roles for social workers in Australia?
Should Australian social workers become registered?
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