ABSTRACT
This chapter focuses on the period 1983–87, when the policies that led to AUSTUDY were initially developed and introduced through specific measures in the Labor Government’s 1985/86 Budget. One reason an examination of AUSTUDY is interesting is that the subject of income support for young people is currently topical in the new millennium. AUSTUDY reforms resulted in a simpler structure of allowances than had previously existed. Thus AUSTUDY replaced a complex and inconsistent structure of living allowances that had varied with the types of activity undertaken by the recipients, with a structure more related to the age of a young person. The boundary between ‘identifying the issues’ and ‘policy analysis’ can be difficult to define in practice. Consultation by both policy advisers and policy-makers with representatives of those potentially affected by policy changes can and usually does occur at all stages of the policy development process, both formally and informally.
