ABSTRACT
The involvement of third sector organisations in the provision of housing has a long and complex history. Until the 1970s, the direct provision of housing by the third sector was limited to the provision of selfcare units for older people. The provision of a mixture of work and training as a service for unemployed people, especially those who had been unemployed for some time, emerged in the mid-1970s. In a major piece of privatisation, it put out to tender basic job placement services that had previously been provided by the Commonwealth Employment Service (CES). A slimmed-down CES was converted to a government-owned company, Employment National, and told to compete with nonprofits and an increasing number of for-profits, for service contracts. In the early 1970s, alarmed at the high cost of legal advice to low-income people, staff and students at several university law schools established shopfront legal services; an Aboriginal legal service was established at about the same time.
