Social Policy in Australia: An Overview of Welfare Programs

This report provides a comprehensive overview of social policies in Australia. It begins with an introduction to social policies and their significance, followed by a detailed examination of various policies implemented in Australia, including Medicare, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), and initiatives related to family welfare, child care, and parental leave. The report analyzes the 'Closing the Gap' policy, its objectives, and its initial challenges. It further explores social policies in sectors like pensions, education, and agriculture, highlighting their impact on the Australian population. A historical perspective of social policy development in Australia is also presented, discussing the influence of post-war initiatives and the evolution of welfare programs. The report concludes by summarizing the key findings and the overall impact of social policies on the country's development and structure.

[Social Policy in australia ]
2019

Social Policy in Australia: 1
Table of Contents
Introduction.................................................................................................................................................2
Social Policy................................................................................................................................................2
Social policies in Australia..........................................................................................................................3
History of Social Policy in Australia...........................................................................................................5
Conclusion...................................................................................................................................................6
References...................................................................................................................................................7

Social Policy in Australia: 2
Introduction
In this report the detailed information about the social policy is discussed which are designed in
Australia. Social policies are welfare activities which are imposed in public welfare. The purpose of these
social policies, their duration, and benefits which community can gain from these policies are also
described in the report. In this report research is conducted on history of Australia and necessities of these
social policies. The report also summarize about impact of social policy which were implemented in
Australia to develop and improve the factors which are affecting country.
Social Policy
The policies which are declared in public welfare and in their protection such policies are known
as social policies. These policies are announced by the ruling government of any country and for
successful implementation of any policy there should be majority approval in assembly of country. If
members of assembly not pass their approval on any plan till than it would not be consider as social
policy. These policies are designed for national (de Anstiss, Savelsberg, & Ziaian, 2019), state or
local level this policy includes laws, regulations, executive orders, or decisions by court. There are three
meanings of social policy in which the firs is about the output which defines about goals or targets
achieve by government after implementation of it, this can be also explained that the impact which can be
seen after implementation of the policy. The other meaning of social policy is about the discipline and the
last one is about process.

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Social policies in Australia
There are many policies which were implemented in Australia for well-being of people of Australia in
past time. In the health sector government of Australia proposed plan of Medicare and Medi-bank in
between 1970-80 apart from this in 2013 the policy which was introduced ‘National Disability Insurance
scheme (NDIS). These policies were implemented for improving health facility in all over Australia
(Marston, 2019), including the funding some of the changes which were made during the duration of
policies for favor of women, children, and family are mentioned below:
 Child Endowment which was introduced in 1941, Allowance for family proposed in 1976, the
parents who do not have any children are single policy for payment was announced in 1970.
 Family planning social policy was announced in 1960.
 Childcare social policy which was proposed 1980.
 Paid parental leave was announced in 2011.
One of the social policies which is well known for Australia it was announced by the ruling
government (Liberal Party) i.e. Closing the gap. The policy closing the gap was basically for the
health and education and there were 7 targets which were decided when policy was announced.
The policy was failed in its first attempt because out of the decided 7 targets only two targets
were accomplished. This strategy was planned for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders
(Breheny, & Stephens, 2019). who were suffering from chronic disease in the policy they were
able to get benefit of free medical support by end of government (Ablett, Morley & Newcomb,
2019). There was gap between people of Australia which was termed as Non-indigenous people
and Indigenous people. This policy was proposed to minimize or eliminate the gap. The factors
which were included in the policy are mentioned below:
 Family, child and Youth
 Health

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 Education
 Economic Development
 Housing
 Justice in which youth justice was focused
 Land and Water
The 7 main targets which were set in the first implementation of policy are described as
follows :
In this policy the early education of every child was mandatory that every child has to receive
early educations that are under age of 4 years. The gap between the people should be reduced to
half, As the people of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islands were have short life span due to
chronic disease and lack of education so in this plan it was decided to this factor is to minimize.
Child of 5 years of below their mortality rate is to improve (Roces, 2019). In schools the
attendance of student was main issue as most of families were not able to send their children
school due to distance or financial concern so the plan was designed to improve the attendance
and children get the education as much as possible.
Social Polices which were announced for other sectors are:
Pension: In Australia the pension system is classified in two categories which are mentioned
below:
 Public pension system
 Private employment pension system
Public Pension System: This pension system is government strategy in which revenue was
generated by the tax system (Breheny, & Stephens, 2019). In this medical care, tax concessions
and other government services are provided including with a monthly payment.

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Private employment pension System: In this the people who are employee of private sector
receives some payment after their resignation from the organization.
Education: The major population of Australia has concerns which are related to their financial
condition. In Australia the literacy rate is right with higher school education because for youth
system there is fixed payment system but for the childhood education the rate is not impressive.
There are two reasons behind of it, most schools are privately organized and funding of school
for children has to arrange or done by parents some of people who belong to middle class they
can either afford house or they may provide education to their kids. Other reason for the
education is the people who are living in rural areas and there (Martin-Sardesai, Guthrie, Tooley,
& Chaplin, 2019). are number of schools is not satisfactory in rural areas. This concern is also in
consideration under closing the gap.
Agriculture: Australia is the country majorly active in agriculture most of the economy for any
country totally depends on the number of production acting. It will reduce the import cost and
will reduce the dependency of products on other nation. If the production is very good than by
exporting the revenue can be generate (Widmaier, 2019). Australia is motivating farmers through
various policies towards agriculture also other nearby regions.
History of Social Policy in Australia
Australia is the country which has the same attribute of post war initiatives similar to
Britain. For the same they have to continue with the social policy in public welfare to overcome
with the loss. In 1901 Australian federation introduce the family welfare policy; this policy was
to give benefits to those family in which only one man is working who had the responsibility for
the complete family. By 1907 the policy was amended and a fix wage was decided for
supporting the family (Merrells, Buchanan, & Waters, 2019). From very long time by

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considering pensions, health, education and other social services Australian federation
announced many policies for welfare of common people. In 1970 the liberal parties came in
power and they made many changes in the policies of Australia. At that time due to rise in neo-
liberalism and neo classical economy Australia came into pressure of global economic policies
but its social policies helped much to improve and to overcome from all those challenges.
Conclusion
In the report the research is done on the social policies of Australia, in how many sectors the
federation implemented the policies for welfare of Australia and its people. The report concluded the
study of closing the gap plan of Australian ruling government. The discussion is made about the areas
which were decided where the benefits has to be provided also with the failure of its first implementation.
In the report the history of Australian policy is also discussed with the impact on development of its
economy and structure.

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References
Ablett, P., Morley, C., & Newcomb, M. (2019). Social Work, Human Services and Basic
Income. In Implementing a Basic Income in Australia (pp. 215-235). Palgrave
Macmillan, Cham.
Breheny, M., & Stephens, C. (2019). Social policy and social identities for older people. The
SAGE Handbook of Applied Social Psychology, 347.
de Anstiss, H., Savelsberg, H., & Ziaian, T. (2019). Relationships in a new country: A qualitative
study of the social connections of refugee youth resettled in South Australia. Journal of
Youth Studies, 22(3), 346-362.
Marston, G. (2019). Basic Income in Australia: Implementation Challenges. In Implementing a
Basic Income in Australia (pp. 23-43). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Martin-Sardesai, A., Guthrie, J., Tooley, S., & Chaplin, S. (2019). History of research
performance measurement systems in the Australian higher education sector. Accounting
History, 24(1), 40-61.
Merrells, J., Buchanan, A., & Waters, R. (2019). “We feel left out”: Experiences of social
inclusion from the perspective of young adults with intellectual disability. Journal of
Intellectual & Developmental Disability, 44(1), 13-22.

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Roces, M. (2019). Changing Migration Policy from the Margins: Filipino Activism on Behalf of
Victims of Domestic Violence in Australia, 1980s–2000. In History, Historians and the
Immigration Debate (pp. 71-90). Palgrave Macmillan, Cham.
Widmaier, W. W. (2019). Australian foreign policy in political time: middle power creativity,
misplaced friendships, and crises of leadership. Australian Journal of International
Affairs, 1-17.