SCPL2601 Lecture Notes - Lecture 8: H. C. Coombs, Welfare Reform, Conditionality
23 May 2018
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WEEK 8: MANAGING UNEMPLOYMENT: FROM WELFARE TO WORKFARE:
• White Paper on Full Employment: H.C. 'Nugget' Coombs
o Unemployment as a structural feature of capitalism that could be managed through
economic policy
o Collective insurance against risk of unemployment
o Full Employment the responsibility of the Federal Government
o Such provision and mechanisms promoted particular forms of solidarity and sociality-
Social Citizenship
• Unemployment and Sickness Benefits Act 1944:
o Funded from general taxation revenue
o Was not time limited
o Conditions of Benefits included:
• Gender:
▪ Married women ineligible
• Race:
▪ Indigenous people could qualify if the Director General of Social Services
was satisfied that the Indigenous person was considered to be "intelligent
nd of good character"
• 12 Month Residency
• Means and asset tested (excluding private dwelling)
• 7 day waiting period
• Refusing to break a strike (that is take a job to replace a striking worker) did not
disqualify you however participation in a strike excluded you from receiving
benefits.
• Work Test: Applicants for unemployment benefits had to be capable of and willing
to egage i suitale ork ad ere takig reasoale steps to fid ork.
• Other Conditions:
▪ Benefits could be postponed or cancelled if:
• Ueployet as the result of isodut as a orker
• You became voluntarily unemployed
• You refused or failed to accept an offer of employment
• suitale reaso lause hih eat that you ould refuse to
accept a job for a suitable reason (eg: such as travel and skill).
• 1970s: Changing labour markets and changing conditions:
o Tightening of the work test (the claimants availability for and willingness to work):
• being required to move in order to find work
• requirement that skilled workers to accept unskilled work
• the voluntarily unemployed had to wait 6 weeks before they could claim income
support
• School leavers had to wait until the beginning of the next school term to be
eligible for unemployment benefits
• Towards Individual Explanations and Solutions:
o From the 1970s we begin to see a shifting focus towards the:
• "the formation and reformation of the capacities and attributes of the
unemployed" (Dean, 1998:92)
• Welfare Reform: New Arrangements for New Times:
o The Active Society:
• OECD
• Income support systems need to refocus on getting people 'back into work'
o Social Security Review:
• Income Support for the Unemployed in Australia: Toward a More Active System
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