Wage indexation, a process whereby "wages (or significant elements of them) are regularly adjusted to movements of a prices index" was introduced into Australia as a form of incomes policy. The perceived need for such a policy emanated from economic and political realities. Inflation, running at 2.4% per annum in 1969 gradually increased to 7.1% in 1972, the year in which Labour gained office. Thereafter it rapidly moved into double digit figures and by the end of 1974 was running at nearly 20% Cost push factors were seen by many as the key catalysts in bringing about this economic disequilibrium. This reflected poorly on the government's ability to control such costs, particularly labour costs which increased spectacularly. In the year ending July 1974 male award rates rose by a record 27.3% while female rates, propelled by the phasing in of equal pay, increased by 39.2%
In common with trade unions throughout the "western world", Australian unions entering the 1980's have difficult times ahead. Grappling not only with the twin evils of high unemployment and inflation rates, but also with organizational structures ill-suited in many respects to cope with the technological revolution, Australian unions are reacting to the realities of today and attempting to anticipate the events of tomorrow. How effectively they are doing either may be gleaned to a large extent by an examination of their most recent deliberations in their "parliament" -the Australian Council of Trade Unions (ACTU) in September 1 9 7 9 and surrounding issues and events. This paper seeks to capture the mood and general thrust of current union deliberations in three major areas: ( 1) Organization and Structure; ( 2) Leadership and Ideology; (3) Policy issues. Some of what follows is of peculiarly Australian concern but much of it has wider ramifications highlighting some shared concerns of unionists the world over.
This document forms part of the research materials collected in the 'School knowledge, working knowledge and the knowing subject: a review of state curriculum policies 1975-2005' project. The research was led by Professor Lyn Yates and was funded as a Discovery Project by the Australian Research Council (2007-2008), supplemented by further funding from the University of Melbourne through 2009. Curriculum policies and major education reports collected as part of this project were digitised to preserve as a resource for future researchers and policy makers with the support of the University Library and the Social and Cultural Informatics Platform.
Income distribution is a key element in any approach to social policy, and as such is an important subject for consideration within the Social Welfare Research Centre. Ann Harding addresses issues in income distribution by pointing out that many branches of economic and social theory stress the supposedly distributive character as a key component of the rationale for government intervention in the economy. In Australia, both major political parties express commitment to redistribution in favour of low income and other disadvantaged groups. There are however, two bodies of opinion on this issue: one, which attempts to demonstrate that such distribution does, in fact, take place; the other, that the redistributive effects of government policies are negligible and, as far as taxation is concerned, the system actually redistributes in favour of the rich. As a test of these divergent views, Harding compares the data from the Household Expenditure Survey carried out by the Australian Bureau of Statistics in 1975-76 with the Commonwealth Government1s taxation review and social expenditure for the same year. She also refers to the changes that took place in government policy from 1975-76 to 1981-82. An important feature of the study is Harding's methodology. She points out the distinction between distribution in absolute terms and incidence of expenditure related to each group of recipients' original share of income, and demonstrates through systematic comparison of data that each approach leads to different interpretations and conclusions. Harding's analysis shows that, if measured as incidence, the overall effect of government policy in 1975-76 was a redistribution in favour of low income groups, but redistribution was not equal in all areas. The most pronounced effect was in pensions and benefits and in public housing; the lowest was in education and health. The distributive effect of taxation was negligible, because the progressive effect of income tax was reduced by the regressive nature of indirect taxes, rebates ...
This research focuses on the acculturation of indigenous women located in Inuvik, Northwest Territories. The process of acculturation is conceptualized in terms of individual modernity as defined by Inkeles as well as in terms of educational, political, and consumer acculturation. Research indicates that acculturation is dependent upon several factors such as level of education, English languge facility, length of residence, occupational involvement, contact with school children, and native cultural identity. The aim of this research is to examine the relationship between the independent variables, and each of the four types of acculturation. A set-wise multiple regression analysis was used to assess the degree to which each of the independent variables accounted for variations in each of the four types of acculturation. Findings indicated that the six independent variables have a differing impact on the four measures of acculturation. English language proficiency and positive ethnic identities accounted for most of the variance in modernity, educational and political acculturation. But employment and degree of school contact emerged as the better predictors of consumer acculturation.
On February 1980 Israel decided to develop and produce an indigenous advanced fighter aircraft (AFA). This decision is under a continuing review through the acquisition life cycle. This report examines the decision against a broad background which includes insights into the Third World and European aircraft self-production patterns; the technological capability of the Israeli arms industry; Israel as arms supplier; Israel as a recipient of arms and security assistance. The report comprehensively analyzes the political and the economic aspects of the indigenous AFA decision. It concludes that political considerations should impact the decision only after considering the economic ones. The latter generally favor indigenous AFA. The major obstacle is the inflationary impact of the indigenous production, and that should be the determining ingredient in any further decision. (Author) ; Prepared for: Naval Postgraduate School Monterey, California ; http://archive.org/details/indigenousadvanc00gore ; NA
In 1974 the Commonwealth Government adopted the policy that all Australian families with young children should have available to them a comprehensive range of early childhood services, including, in particular, child care. This objective, as is well known, has not been achieved. Only a minority of Australian families in the early 1980s has access to, and uses, formal child care services. This discrepancy between the aims of the early 1970s and the outcomes of the early 1980s stems from both political and economic factors. Between 1976 and 1983, the Commonwealth limited its objectives in the early childhood field to providing services to 'those in greatest need', rejecting the aim of universal provision of child care on ideological grounds. The relatively poor state of the economy during these years reinforced this policy of limited involvement in children's services. The return of a Labor Government in March 1983 may result in a return to a commitment to the objective of universal service provision; however, given prevailing economic circumstances and economic policy, it is unlikely that universal access to children's services will be a reality in the near future. In such circumstances, policies concerning the distribution of children's services assume great importance. The two central questions that policy-makers face are: 1. Which kinds of families should be the main recipients of those child care services that are made available through public funds? 2. What strategies will maximise the likelihood that services in fact reach the intended beneficiaries? Given that children's services will be in short supply for the foreseeable future, these issues must be addressed irrespective of whether the policymaker is committed to universal or partial public provision of children's services. In this report, these issues are described as issues of "selectivity". The term "selectivity" is used here in a broad sense to include all measures designed to allocate services to selected groups of the population who are deemed to ...
The Social Welfare Research Centre held a one-day public seminar on 19th June 1981 on the subject of 'Unemployment: Causes, Consequences and Policy Implications'. The programme was designed to cover the main areas of the causes of unemployment, the consequences for individuals and for Australian society (specifically in relation to the state of the labour market and the social security system), and to canvass a range of policy implications and responses. Peter Sheehan was invited to analyse the ways in which Australia's economic and political policies over the past decade have shaped and defined the current unemployment situation and to suggest likely future outcomes under alternative policies. Frank Stilwell was asked to locate the Australian situation in an international economic context, to analyse the impact of unemployment in the Australian class structure and to outline some alternative political economic responses. Judith O'Neill agreed to assess some of the implications of unemployment for trade unions and to present preliminary findings of her survey of trade union attitudes and responses to unemployment, outlining the forms of assistance currently available to unemployed union members and unions' plans for future action. Adam Jamrozik was invited to analyse the consequences of labour market changes for social welfare policies. He asked the question: How do these changes affect the life chances and life styles of various sections of the population? In this introductory paper, I outline the key issues and debates raised in the papers and in the general discussion which concluded the programme.
Dr Ugo Ascoli of the University of Ancona, Italy, spent his recent sabbatical leave in Australia. He spent a few weeks at the SWRC and while visiting presented a detailed and thoughtful seminar. In the seminar he examined the Italian case in comparative quantitative terms and reached the conclusion that at the beginning of the 1980s the Italian welfare system compared well with those in other European countries. He analysed the growth of the welfare system in the post World War II period, touching on the main welfare policies and the prime focus of his analysis was on pensions policy. Furthermore he argued that occupational and fiscal welfare increase the 'non-progressive' or 'regressive' characteristics of the Italian welfare system. From his evidence he demonstrated that Italian welfare measures appeared rooted quite clearly on non-universalist principles. It is clear that in Italy almost all social policy development seems to depend on the way the political system works. Indeed, the mass patronage system ('clientelismo') plays a central role in Italian social welfare. Or Ascoli then focused on the domestic perspectives of social policy in particular, an analysis of the so-called 'return to the family' and 'privatisation ' proposals, and placed Italian experiences into a broader context. He spoke also of the necessity to rationalise the composition of social expenditure and to radically modify the operation of the taxation system.
It is widely assumed that people with disabilities suffer from financial disadvantage and incur extra costs of living which people without disabilities do not have. To live in an advanced industrial society involves costs across a wide range - costs borne by individuals, families, agencies, and governments. We assume but do not know the extent of the extra costs borne by those with disabilities, and the development of a method by which these extra costs may be assessed is imperative. The Social Welfare Research Centre has been fortunate in securing the services of Dr Robert Horn to begin to examine these issues. Unfortunately we have not been able to go beyond an initial examination. This paper is not a research paper. It was not intended to report results nor was it intended to develop theory. It was intended as a first step in developing a study which might examine the extra costs of disablement. The Social Welfare Research Centre is not able to conduct such a survey, nor is it able to develop in detail the component parts of such a survey. We hope, however, that we are performing a service by examining in a systematic way the definitional and conceptual issues that have to be thought through in our search for a better understanding of a social issue of great importance. This working paper deals with severe disablement, and is concerned with daily living costs.
This Diary summarises the legislative and administrative changes made in the social policy field during 1982 by the Commonwealth government, and to a lesser extent by the State governments. It provides a ready reference for research workers, and can also be used as a succinct and factual account of policy during the year. In addition to Commonwealth legislation and events, this Diary attempts to cover the main policy changes at State level in the fields of social security, welfare and adoption however it has not been possible to obtain complete coverage for all fields and all States. This Diary covers the main areas of social policy apart from education. However, it makes no mention of general economic policy or political events. For these the reader is referred to the 'Diary of Recent Economic Events and policy statements' included in each issue of the Australian Economic Review, to the Diary of Political Events in each issue of Australian Quarterly, and to the 'Broadcasting Chronology' included since 1981 in Media Information Australia.
Few countries in the industrialized West are more energy directed than Norway. Whereas most nations have paid particular attention to the relationship between their economic growth and the consumption of energy, Norway has to a high degree based her industrialization and economic growth on the exploitation of indigenous energy resources. Therefore, establishing principles of developing and using energy resources has been an important political topic in Norway since industrialization gathered headway near the turn of the century.
One purpose of this special section is to bring new and fresh perspectives to the field of Indian law. The editors hope to create a broader understanding of the concerns of the Indian, the non-Indian community, the states, and the federal government. I hope to give you a look from yet another viewpoint, the historian's viewpoint. To historians there is the appearance of great circularity yet underlying continuity in the course of Indian law and policy. In this brief introduction I want to convey to you something of that historian's viewpoint in the hope that these new perspectives on Indian law may be free of the most fundamental misconception which pervades prior dealings with Indians.
This Diary summarises the legislative and administrative changes made in the social policy field during 1981 by the Commonwealth government, and to a lesser extent by the State governments. It provides a ready reference for research workers, and can also be used as a succinct and factual account of policy during the year. Unlike its predecessors, this Diary attempts to cover the main policy changes at a State level in the social policy field. It was not possible to obtain complete coverage for all fields and all States, but it was decided to publish those summaries which were obtained, on the grounds that a beginning must be made. This Diary covers the main areas of social policy apart from education. However, it makes no mention of general economic policy or political events. For these the reader is referred to the 'Diary of Recent Economic Events and policy statements' included in each issue of the Australian Economic Review, to the Diary of Political Events in each issue of Australian Quarterly, and to the 'Broadcasting Chronology' included since 1981 in Media Information Australia.
As part of its research on the welfare of old people, the Social Welfare Research Centre commissioned Jan Carter to spend three months reviewing federal and state government policies which relate to care of those with brain failure. The paper identifies the resources which go into care of the population in question and where they are to be found. It then tries to elucidate why these resources exist and to uncover some of the political and social policies which sustain these resources.
