logo

Development of Australian Social Policies - Assignment

   

Added on  2021-04-19

6 Pages1739 Words52 Views
RUNNING HEAD: Development of Australian Social PoliciesDevelopment of AustralianSocial Policies

Development of Australian Social Policies 1Introduction to Social PolicySocial policy deals with the ways in which the human wants for work, safety, education, wellbeing and health are met by societies across the world (Hoggett, 2001). Social policies address the manner of responding to the global challenge of globalization, poverty and migrationalong with social, economic and demographic changes. It also analyses the roles performed by national governments, civil society, the family, market and international organizations in providing support and services from infancy to old age of an individual. In other words, social policy consists of the principles, legislations, guidelines and activities that impact the quality of life and living conditions of a person (Jimenez, Pasztor, Chambers & Fujii, 2014). This report throws light on the development of social policies in Australia over a period of time.Development of Social Policies in AustraliaThe lives and choices of Australians have been drastically affected by the changes in the social policy over time (Carson & Kerr, 2017). Social policy related areas have witnessed many examples of past policy activism. In health and disability area, it includes the introduction of Medibank and Medicare in the 1970s and 1980s and recently National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) in 2013. This resulted in the changes in the distribution of costs of health care inAustralia and manner of providing and funding assistance to people with disability along with increase in the access to health care. Now the families were saved from facing large healthcare bills or to prove that they are poor for receiving free treatments from the public hospitals. This significantly resulted in visible changes in the living standards of the Australians and succeeded in ensuring equality in access to the healthcare services. For women, children and families, the important changes include the introduction of Child Endowment in 1941, payments for single parents in 1970s, Family Allowance in 1976, family planning in the 1960s, expansion of childcare in 1980s and paid parental leave in the year 2011 (McClelland, 2014). The operations of indigenous communities were intervened by Howard government in Australia is a worthy illustration of highly contested policy. The Racial Discrimination Act was suspended,the permit system was removed and the welfare payments for parents were detained. In the 1980s, anti-discrimination legislation was introduced at both state and Commonwealth levels

Development of Australian Social Policies 2which resulted in enlarging the rights of minority groups. Nowadays, the policies focus on the developing of working capacity of people along with expecting larger category of individuals to be in paid work including people with disability and women. In the year 1894, minimum wages laws were introduced in Australia. Moreover, ‘Harvester Judgement’, which was a basic wage judgement in Australia, was introduced in the year 1907. These acts provided power to determine working conditions and minimum wages to the court. The social reformers and trade unionists in Australia succeeded their battle for justified wage prescriptions. The ‘family wage’ policy was objected by Liberals in Australia and was attempted to be undermined. It was believed that the labor market was distorted by the pay floor and resulted in creating a moral hazard i.e. favored single men without the responsibilities of family in wage policy. For the purpose of restraining wages, child benefits were introduced in 1941. The‘welfare state’ of Australia was created with the introduction of pension for widows and sickness and employment benefits in the year 1942 and 1945.Working Nation was a social policy in the form of formal statement which was released in the year 1994 after a policy review regarding unemployment problem in Australia. It contained various proposals in detail for the purpose of reducing unemployment. It also covered actions regarding the promotion of regional development, introduction of Job Compact which promised the employment of people who have been unemployed for a period over eighteen months, changes in industrial relations and changes to the procedure of income support (Howard, 2001).With the election of liberal government in Australia in 1996, the expansion of private sector was promoted instead of universality in social services. Attempts were made to bring a complete division between the private and public sectors in the areas of social welfare with the help of tax concessions introduced in 1996 in the form of Private Health Insurance Debate. Moreover, Goods and Services Tax (GST) dominated tax changes in the year 2000. The wage structure was further deregulated by Workplace Relations Amendment Act 2005, also known as Work Choices, along with the elimination of employment laws that were related to unfair discharges (Sheldon & Junor, 2006). The Work Choices legislation was based on the principal thrust to individualized employment relations, with the effect of marginalizing industrial tribunals and trade unions.

End of preview

Want to access all the pages? Upload your documents or become a member.

Related Documents
Social Policy in Australia
|9
|1759
|272

Development of Australian Social Policies
|9
|1795
|205

Employment Law: Minimum Wage, Contractual Terms, Discrimination Laws, Safety Regulations, and Domestic Violence
|8
|1689
|306

A Presentation To Line Managers
|8
|484
|18

Relevance of Australian Social Policy on Social Practices
|10
|2616
|213

Developments and Challenges in Residential Care Policy for Older People in UK
|7
|2453
|295