ABSTRACT
He reported that, in New Zealand, as elsewhere, a dominant theme in debates about the welfare state is the issue of ‘dependence’. Welfare dependence by certain sectors of society (typically, single parents and the unemployed) is decried as undesirable-for both moral and financial reasons. The current dynamic in welfare reform debate, argued Mr Field, is reverting to that of the deserving and undeserving poor concept, which informed English Poor Law administration for centuries.
