Assessing the Policy Trajectory of Welfare Reform in Australia

Although its roots reach back into the 1980s, the Australian version of welfare reform has intensified over the last decade under the direction of the conservative Howard government. In this article we chart the path to welfare-to-work policies, noting both the discontinuities as well as a degree of continuity with Australia's traditional approach to social protection. As such, welfare reform in Australia is both revolutionary and evolutionary. Further, its acceptance by the Australian public has been shaped by a sophisticated form of persuasion couched within a discourse of 'participation' and 'obligation'. Finally, we note that in the case of welfare reform, Australia's approach has switched its traditional reliance on UK social policy models to a social security system designed on the principles of welfare reform as implemented in the US.