1 The social inclusion agenda is critical for the future direction of Australia. Bringing the social back in and giving all citizens a stake is what an inclusive society is ultimately all about. In In or Out: Building an Inclusive Nation? Paul Smyth
1 The social inclusion agenda is critical for the future direction of Australia. Bringing the social back in and giving all citizens a stake is what an inclusive society is ultimately all about. In In or Out: Building an Inclusive Nation? Paul Smyth argues that it is high time that we embarked on a period of nation building the Australian way. Our welfare system, he says, is out of date and we sorely need a new social policy architecture to shape the nation. Two key themes provide the bases of a radical policy renewal: the social inclusion agenda and the social investment state. The central challenge is to take social inclusion from being a tag attached to an ad hoc assortment of policies and programs directed at a few population groups and places unfortunate enough to be labeled socially excluded to becoming the basis of a new Compact for a Fair Go. Smyth locates this Compact in the context of the Federation Settlement. Then the Fair Go was seen to depend on a competitive, high wage economy. Today the idea of a social investment state shows how we can refurbish the economic role of government in the areas of infastructure, human capital and industry policy in order to provide the economic basis for an inclusive society. Paul Smyth holds a joint appointment as a Professorial Fellow in Social Policy at the University of Melbourne and General Manager of the Research and Policy Centre at the Brotherhood of St Laurence. Prior to this he taught at the School of Social Work and Social Policy at the University of Queensland after a period as senior Researcher at Uniya, a Jesuit social justice research centre in Kings Cross, Sydney. He has been actively researching the topic of social inclusion for over a decade. In or Out? Building an Inclusive Nation Paul Smyth
3 Copyright Paul Smyth March 2010 Contents ALL RIGHTS RESERVED ISBN: Published by: The Australian Collaboration 5 St Vincent Place, Albert Park, Victoria in conjunction with The Brotherhood of St Laurence 67 Brunswick St, Fitzroy. Victoria Preface 4 In or Out? Building an Inclusive Nation 6 Social inclusion in Australia: the challenge today 8 Defining and measuring social inclusion 9 Why the initial luke warm reception in Australia? 12 A new welfare agenda emerges 14 Early runs on the board but longer term uncertainty 17 Shaping up for the long term: from neoliberal to social democratic welfare 20 A new social contract: the inclusive society 23 A new social contract: a competitive economy 27 Conclusion 32 Select Bibliography 34
4 PREFACE / 5 Preface In or out? Building an Inclusive Nation forms part of a series of essays published by the Australian Collaboration. The essays are devoted to political, societal and environmental issues facing Australia. In or out? is jointly published with the Brotherhood of St Laurence. The Australian Collaboration is an association of seven leading national community organizations: Australian Council of Social Service; Australian Conservation Foundation; Australian Council for International Development; Choice (Australian Consumers Association); Federation of Ethnic Communities Councils of Australia; National Council of Churches in Australia; and Trust for Young Australians. The views expressed in this essay are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Australian Collaboration, its member organizations or the Brotherhood of St Laurence. David Yencken, Chair The Australian Collaboration Tony Nicholson, Executive Director The Brotherhood of St Laurence The aim of the Australian Collaboration is to help to achieve an integrated and sustainable ecological, social, cultural and economic environment within and outside Australia. The Collaboration carries out research and publishes books, essays and reports. A range of free educational and information resources can also be found on its web site including Fact and Issue Sheets on societal and environmental issues, Democracy in Australia, devoted to the enhancement of public accountability, transparency and democratic practice; and Reference Sources, a listing of key national and international web sources of statistical and other information. The Brotherhood s vision is of an Australia free of poverty. It works with others to create: an inclusive society in which everyone is treated with dignity and respect; a compassionate and just society which challenges inequity; a society in which all create and share prosperity and share responsibility for each other; and a sustainable society for our generation and future generations.
5 / 7 I began teaching and writing about social inclusion and social policy over a decade ago. This was at the University of Queensland and was prompted by an observation of a colleague who had just returned from study leave in the United Kingdom where New Labour had assumed power. My friend announced that he had seen the social policy future and it was called social inclusion. For several reasons - as we shall discuss below - that future has been a long time coming in Australia. In the meantime I have observed students taking to the concept with critical enthusiasm, politicians slowly cottoning on to its vote catching potential, and many a bureaucrat wishing it would go away and the world of social policy could remain just the way it is. Today, after two years of an Australian Labor Party federal government developing its social agenda under the banner of social inclusion, we remain very much at the beginning stages of a new social reform policy cycle. This essay urges readers to realize and seize the reform opportunities which this adoption of social inclusion presents for Australia. People can be easily put off by the novelty of the term. Why can t we just talk about a Fair Go like they did a hundred years ago? The reality is that for popular politics, phrases like a Fair Go will be the ones that work. However, to have any policy substance they hav