The Impact of Australian Social Policy on Social Work Practice

This essay examines the profound impact of Australian social policies, particularly indefinite mandatory detention, on the shape and practice of social work. It highlights how the policy, as enshrined in the Migration Act 1958, directly affects social workers' ability to uphold ethical codes and human rights, especially concerning refugees and asylum seekers. The essay further explores the development of human rights and social justice from a social work perspective, emphasizing the integration of human rights curricula and the use of human rights frameworks in lobbying efforts. It also discusses the essence of empowerment in casework and community work, illustrating how empowerment benefits both individuals and communities. The essay then delves into effective social work practices with refugees and former asylum seekers, focusing on creating human rights-based frameworks, involving communities in service delivery, and developing the social work workforce. Finally, it addresses the challenges faced by social workers in mainstream agencies when working with Indigenous Australians, particularly cultural misunderstandings and the clash between Western social work principles and Indigenous cultural protocols. The essay references various academic sources to support its arguments.

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Student’s Name
Institutional Affiliation

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Impact of Australian Social Policy of Indefinite Mandatory Detention on the Shape and
Practice of Social Work
The Australian social policy of indefinite mandatory detention in the presence of
convincing evidence on the harmful effect as enshrined in the Migration Act 1958 is an
example of a policy that directly impacts and shapes the social work practice according to the
research done by Robinson (2013). Under this policy, tens of thousands of ‘”unlawful
citizens” have been detained. The unlawful citizens are those who are not legal residents of
Australia without a visa. The time limit of detention is not definite, and this has led to the rise
in the number of mental illness cases amongst the detainees.
The refugees are the most recorded people with mental problems which are as a result
of the suffering, violence and persecuting they undergo. For instance, the research conducted
by The Immigration Department (2016) showed that 1753 people were in the Australian on
shore detention camps in 2016 for more than a year (Select Committee, 2015). Such a policy
directly impacts on social work practice, the work of social service among other is to improve
on the situations of the clients and enable them to access their rights as refugees or asylums.
This brings the social worker into logger's heads with the Australian law enforcers because
the workers are considered as being illegally conducting their work. The social workers are
led and guided by the Australian Association of Social Workers (AASW) Code of Ethics
AASW (2010) which requires that the dignity and respect of every person are respected,
respect of their human rights, provision of duty of care services and well-being among others.
With the existing contradicting Australian policy on the mandatory detention of non-citizens
directly contravenes the work of social workers. Therefore, the policy does not only impact
on the social work practice but shapes it because now the social workers will have to work
against the code of ethics which they once swore their allegiance to.

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The Development of Human Rights and Social Justice from the Perspective of Social
Work Practice
The current world today enjoys a safe and prosperous life partly due to the campaign
for the freedom of democracy and respect for the supremacy of the law and human dignity.
However, the implementation of these values is mainly done by the social work practice
though faced with numerous challenges. The core of social work is to uphold and protect the
society regarding social justice and human rights (Dolgoff and Feldstein, 2012). The two
typical examples of how the development of human rights impact on the social work practice
is the integration of human rights curricula into the social work and the use of human rights
as a framework for lobbying social work. The introduction of the modules or units of human
rights into the curriculum of social work as a mandatory course has led to the experience of
better understanding of social work and its deeper internalization. The human rights units
have been introduced all over the learning period because the social work learners are
expected to be working with vulnerable groups. Thus they should thoroughly understand the
human rights to identify their violation.
The social work students are further supposed to practice the theories learned in class
through internships, training and seminars (Grant and Kinman, 2012). Secondly, it is an
expectation of the social workers to stand up for others more so when their fundamental
rights are under attack. Therefore, the know how to use human rights as a framework for
lobbying social work is critical to the social work learner so that he/she may know how to
study situations and detect cases of injustice and the best way to respond. The use of human
rights as a framework for politicizing social work practice enables the learner to understand
power structures that are significant to the social work practice. Furthermore, the existing

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relationship between the power structures and their impact on injustice and inhumanity, and
the role of social work in reversing is it is well considered.
Essence of Empowerment in Case Work and Community Work
The concept of empowerment in the community is very beneficial both to casework
and to the community at large in several ways. Hepworth et al. (2016) asserts that an
empowered community makes the people have the freedom to act within the society and
creates a sense of responsibility. Through the involvement in the community work, they
rediscover their individual and common potential and thus enhance personal esteem. The
concept of community empowerment can initiate programs at an individual level, whose
influence can be felt nationally or internationally. For instance, an accident victim can gather
people such as close or distant relatives, friends or strangers with the aim of sensitizing
people on the measures of road safety. Community organizations if empowered can provide
solutions to many social problems because they have the strength to mobilize the people and
resources (DuBois and Miley, 2013).
Empowerment is useful both in case work and community work because the
emancipation of the leaders of the community organizations implies improved and better
services to the community which boosts the production capacity of the community (Kirst-
Ashman, 2015). Furthermore, people that are empowered can influence the course and
implementation of community projects through their involvement. The effect of
empowerment begins from an individual level to community level thus leading to the
achievement of powers that positively impact the economic political and societal aspects of
the community.

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Development of effective social work practice with refugees and former asylum seekers
Refugees and asylum seekers have suffered and continue to undergo adversity. Their
needs are usually complicated and therefore warrant the attention of a wide range of social
work services (Hadgkiss and Renzaho, 2014). However, irrespective of the challenges faced,
social workers can implement some practices which will improve the condition of their lives.
The first useful practice as per Ruch et al. (2011) is to create a framework which is based on
human rights to ensure that the refugees and asylum seekers are dealt with by respect,
equality, and dignity. In order to achieve this, the first step should be an effort to win the
commitment of humanitarian organizations and relevant government departments to
promoting the well-being of the asylum seeker and refugees. Furthermore, a needs
assessment framework should be carried out, and a local strategy is created to enable the local
authorities to initiate and come up with strategies for offering services to the asylum seekers
and refugees.
Secondly, the community organizations and refugees and asylum seekers can be
involved in the plan and development of the service delivery so as to improve service
provision Kirmayer et al. (2011) The local organization of the refugees and community
should be natured because they are a valuable resource in inclusion and the design and
delivery of services. Thirdly, Saleebey (2012) suggests that the development of the
workforce of social workers through training, seminars, etc. are significant in ensuring that
employees possess the expected expertise in dealing with refugees and asylum seekers. This
can be accomplished by initiating local authorities and professional teams. Also, supervision
should be done to social workers and other related practitioners to ensure a continuous
delivery of up to standard services and rectification of any issues that may arise. Lastly, there
should be established an eligibility criterion to be adopted by the local authorities in assessing

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persons in need of any social work services (Dolgoff and Feldstein, 2012). For instance, if the
asylum seekers are not entitled to the social work services then the laws on human rights
should be used in the assessment to determine if it would be a violation of their human rights
to deny them the social work services.
Challenges Faced By Social Workers in Mainstream Agencies While Working With the
Indigenous Australians
The challenges of social work with the indigenous Australians are commonly based
on the cultural variance of the social workers with the Aboriginals (Ife, 2012). The cultural
misunderstanding between the aboriginals and the social workers is understood as the
consequence of down looking upon the beliefs and practices held by the Indigenous
Australians. This is due to the legacy of colonization of the aboriginals of the western world
which was characterized by poverty, high mortality to avoidable diseases, land acquisition,
unemployment, violence, etc. When working with the aboriginal community, the social
workers are expected to respect the elders and appreciate their significance to the community
without which they can’t gain access to offer their services to the community. In most cases,
the demands of the elders go against the laid down codes of ethics for the social worker. The
other challenge faced by the social worker with the aboriginal community is their respect for
the land and spiritual aspects and cultural protocols which are associated with who is allowed
to communicate to the generations and relatives, such protocols are a challenge to the social
work for they hinder the successful provision of services in many ways.
Walter, Taylor, and Habibis (2011) assert that generally, the principles and values of
the western people where social work practice originates are different from the indigenous
Australians. The perspectives of development and skills acquisition by the indigenous
population are very different from those of the western nations. Furthermore, the

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understanding of values on parenting and treatment of older people is very different between
the westerners and the aboriginal people. Therefore, it becomes a challenge for the social
worker whose training is inclined towards the western ideology to integrate the two schools
of thoughts but still work under the code of ethics. Based on the research done by Bennett,
Zubrzycki, and Bacon, (2011). The social workers who worked with the Australian
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander had critical identity issues. The practitioners in the
study claimed that they felt limited by the agencies in the manner in which they worked out
with the communities.

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References
AASW (2010). Code of Ethics. p. 12. Retrieved from:
http://www.aasw.asn.au/document/item/1201
Bennett, B., Zubrzycki, J., & Bacon, V. (2011). What do we know? The experiences of social
workers working alongside Aboriginal people. Australian social work, 64(1), 20-37.
Dolgoff, R., & Feldstein, D. (2012). Understanding social welfare: A search for social
justice. New Jersey: Pearson Higher Ed.
Dolgoff, R., & Feldstein, D. (2012). Understanding social welfare: A search for social
justice. New Jersey: Pearson Higher Ed.
DuBois, B. L., & Miley, K. K. (2013). Social work: An empowering profession. New Jersey:
Pearson Higher Ed.
Grant, L., & Kinman, G. (2012). Enhancing wellbeing in social work students: Building
resilience in the next generation. Social Work Education, 31(5), 605-621.
Hadgkiss, E. J., & Renzaho, A. M. (2014). The physical health status, service utilisation and
barriers to accessing care for asylum seekers residing in the community: a systematic
review of the literature. Australian Health Review, 38(2), 142-159.
Hepworth, D. H., Rooney, R. H., Rooney, G. D., & Strom-Gottfried, K.
(2016). Empowerment Series: Direct Social Work Practice: Theory and Skills. Nelson
Education.

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Ife, J. (2012). Human rights and social work: Towards rights-based practice. England:
Cambridge University Press.
Kirmayer, L. J., Narasiah, L., Munoz, M., Rashid, M., Ryder, A. G., Guzder, J. & Pottie,
K. (2011). Common mental health problems in immigrants and refugees: general
approach in primary care. Canadian Medical Association Journal, 183(12), E959-
E967.
Kirst-Ashman, K. K. (2015). Empowerment Series: Introduction to Social Work & Social
Welfare: Critical Thinking Perspectives. Canada: Nelson Education.
Ruch, G., Volz, F. R., Orme, J., Hill, A., Ward, D., Skinner, K., & Morago, P.
(2011). Social work education and training. London: Jessica Kingsley Publishers.
Saleebey, D. (2012). The strengths perspective in social work practice. New Jersey: Pearson
Higher Ed.
Select Committee on the Recent Allegations relating to Conditions and Circumstances at the
Regional Processing Centre in Nauru. (2015). Taking responsibility: conditions and
circumstances at Australia's Regional Processing Centre in Nauru. P 5.16.
The Immigration Department’s detention statistics (2016). Retrieved from:
https://www.border.gov.au/ReportsandPublications/Documents/statistics/
immigration-detention-statistics-29-feb-2016.pdf
Walter, M., Taylor, S., & Habibis, D. (2011). How white is social work in
Australia? Australian Social Work, 64(1), 6-19.