ABSTRACT

This chapter examines the attempts by successive Hawke Governments to reconcile the established distribution of rewards to different social groups via the social security system with the new economic pressures on the public purse and a changing view of the role and responsibilities of government for welfare. It reviews the work of Dr Bettina Cass, Associate Professor of Social Policy at the University of Sydney, who was Director of the Social Security Review from 1986 to 1989. The chapter examines the broader social, economic and political context within which the Review was undertaken and how this context influenced the final recommendations of the Review. Expanding welfare programs were long a feature of postwar Australia. The Social Security review stands out amongst other major reviews of Australian public policy in the mid-to-late 1980s as a model for policy reviews because of the comprehensiveness of its analysis which allowed the Department to move into implementation in an efficient and systematic manner.