PART 1 -INTRODUCTION Review Process On 29 September 1999, the Minister for
Family and Community Services announced the Government's intention to review the
Australian welfare system. The Minister appointed this Reference Group to
consult with the community and provide advice to the Government on welfare
reform. The Group's terms of reference and membership are at Attachment A to
this report. In March this year the Reference Group released an Interim Report
that outlined a new framework for a fundamental re-orientation of Australia's
social support system and sought feedback from the Australian community. After
the Interim Report was released, the Reference Group received over 300 written
responses as well as verbal feedback from income support recipients, business
and community representatives. This Final Report presents our medium to long
term recommendations. In addition, we set out some initial steps, which could be
taken in the development of a new Participation Support System. The Reference
Group believes the full implementation of the new system may take a decade.
Nevertheless, much can be done in the short term to improve the current system
to encourage and facilitate participation. The Need for Fundamental Reform
Trends Australia is in the midst of a profound economic and social
transformation. The consequences of this transformation require us to re-think
and re-configure our approach to social support.
Disappointingly, the current social support system may be failing many of
those it was designed to help. Australia is in its eighth year of strong
economic growth, yet joblessness, underemployment and reliance on income support
remain unacceptably high. Disadvantage is also concentrated increasingly in
particular segments of the population and in particular localities. These are
not problems being faced by Australia alone; they are being experienced in many
comparable countries. Over recent decades a variety of economic and demographic
factors have combined to create the new and disturbing phenomena of ‘jobless
families’ and ‘job poor communities’. These unequal outcomes have generated the
unacceptable prospect that significant concentrations of economic and social
disadvantage might become entrenched. In its analysis, the Reference Group
focused on four trends (discussed more fully at Attachment B) that underpin the
need for a bold change to our social support system: · A growing divide between
'job rich' and 'job poor' households. There is strong employment growth in some
areas, but high rates of joblessness persist in many regions and localities. In
addition, too many children live in families with no parent in paid work. ·Labour
market trends have brought changes in the balance between permanent full-time
jobs and part-time and casual work, between male and female employment, between
jobs in manufacturing and primary industry and jobs in service industries. Many
of the new part-time jobs have been taken in households where there is someone
already in employment, which contributes to the widening gap in the distribution
of jobs.· More people receive income support. Over the past thirty years, there
has been a steady upward trend in the proportion of the workforce-age population
receiving income support and other publicly provided assistance. Of special
concern is the proportion of the population that depends on income support for
the majority of their income. ·
