ABSTRACT
This chapter seeks to “set the scene” for the remainder of this book by doing two things. First, it introduces Australia as a case study, detailing its settler-colonial context, demographic profile, geopolitical milieu, and changing approach to social assistance. This includes key social policy changes affecting women across the 20th and 21st centuries, with more recent shifts occurring within a period of neoliberal paternalism, whereby eligibility for social security has been tightened and conditionalities intensified. These measures have been justified by a “politics of blame” that casts those seeking social security assistance as morally corrupt and as a burden upon taxpayers. Considering this longer history, including impacts for women, provides a helpful backdrop for deliberations around UBI as an alternative policy approach today. It is also important for “grounding” women's narratives, which appear across subsequent chapters.
