Abstract
History takes place not only in the past but also in the present: contemporary history is seeing a reconstruction of the Australian welfare state with far-reaching implications for the future. The impetus for this reconstruction arises from the economic and political conjuncture of the present decade, but its character has also been shaped by legacies of the past. Centerpiece of the Australian welfare state is its system of income security, mainly pensions, benefits and family allowances. The basic outlines of this system were drawn in the 1940s, when earlier forms of provision, mainly age and invalid pension, were elaborated and integrated into a wider framework of Keynesian political economy. The 1940s development gave the Australian welfare state a distinctive character with specific import for economic and family life in the post-war period of economic growth and full male employment. It laid the basis, too, for the welfare politics of present-day history, in which the ‘long boom’ has been followed by economic recession and political questioning of the merits and purposes of public welfare provision.
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© 1989 Richard Kennedy and contributors
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Shaver, S. (1989). Sex and Money in the Fiscal Crisis. In: Kennedy, R. (eds) Australian Welfare. Palgrave, London. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11081-0_7
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-1-349-11081-0_7
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