Australia at the Crossroads: Radical Free Market or Progressive Liberalism? Key Issues and Conclusions

Argy, Fred

doi:10.1111/1467-8462.00081

Cited by 12 publications

(13 citation statements)

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“…The economic factors are not unique to Australia. One is the long-term growth in health care expenditure and costs which, in a context of increasing fiscal stringency by governments, has made some reform inevitable (Gray 1998;Argy 1998;OECD 1998;Duckett 1999c;Hindle 2000). Another, the ageing of the population, will impose increasing strains on health systems, although its extent has recently been questioned (ABS 1999;Duckett 1999a;Richardson et al 1999).…”

Section: The Underlying Political and Economic Causes Of The Reformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reforming Victoria's primary health and community service sector:rural implications

Alford

2000

Aust. Health Review

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In 1999 the Victorian primary care and community support system began a process of substantial reform, involving purchasing reforms and a contested selection process between providers in large catchment areas across the State. The Liberal Government's electoral defeat in September 1999 led to a review of these reforms. This paper questions the reforms from a rural perspective. They were based on a generic template that did not consider rural-urban differences in health needs or other differences including socio-economic status, and may have reinforced if not aggravated rural-urban differences in the quality of and access to primary health care in Victoria.

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Section: The Underlying Political and Economic Causes Of The Reformsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Reforming Victoria's primary health and community service sector:rural implications

Alford

2000

Aust. Health Review

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“…Within Australia, the business sector has been the most influential advocate of neo-liberal ideas (Argy 1998;Bell 2006). In the two to three decades prior to the mid-1980s, there were deep divisions between business groups in Australia over issues such as the need for free trade and labour market deregulation, reflecting the fact that many businesses, particularly in the manufacturing sector, benefited from state protection.…”

Section: Agendas and Interestsmentioning

confidence: 99%

Neo-liberalism and the politics of Australian aid policy-making

Rosser¹

2008

Australian Journal of International Affairs

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“…And current global conflicts, threats of terrorism, and rapid social and cultural changes are interpreted as threats to an (imagined) 'Australian way of life' (Nourry, 2005). In the face of these global concerns, many economists argue that Australia needs a competent, innovative, flexible and highly skilled workforce, necessitating investment in the development of 'human capital' (Bryan, 1991;Argy, 1998;Bathala & Korukonda, 2003). Recently there have been calls for our education systems to uphold Anglo-Australian values (Department of Education, Science and Training, 2005;Devereaux, 2006).…”

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confidence: 99%

Looking Back and Moving Forward: Historicising the Social Construction of Early Childhood Education and Care as National Work

Wong¹

2007

Contemporary Issues in Early Childhood

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Whilst it is possible to construct early childhood education and care (ECEC) in multiple ways, this article focuses on constructions of ECEC that have emerged within nationalist discourses privileged in advanced Western countries today, that is, ECEC as 'national work'. Although these constructs are problematic and thus subject to criticism, the author shows that, historically, positioning ECEC as being of national benefit proved a powerful strategy for the early advocates of ECEC in New South Wales, Australia. The author argues that, despite their problematic nature, contemporary advocates of universal ECEC should strategically use nationalist and economic discourses. Early childhood education and care (ECEC) has the potential to contribute to social justice. It is both an important way of ameliorating the effects of disadvantage (National Institute of Child Health and Development Early Child Care Research Network, 2000) and a way of actively changing or reforming society by working against inequitable practices (Cannella, 1997). However, in order to contribute to social justice and equity, high-quality ECEC must first be available to all children and families. This is not the case in Australia. In Australia, whilst education for children aged six to fifteen years is provided by governments, no such universal provision exists for younger children. Although both federal and state governments do support children's access to ECEC to varying degrees, availability is limited and, for reasons discussed further on, its purchase is, by and large, constructed as a parental responsibility. Proponents of universal ECEC in Australia have to constantly struggle to construct ECEC in ways that engender public and government support. Arguments for ECEC based on social justice and children's rights to early childhood education abound within the early childhood field, but they tend to fall on deaf ears outside that community. One powerful way to advocate universal provision is to construct ECEC within nationalist and economic discourses. From a social-constructionist perspective, concepts of ECEC are socially constructed within historically, culturally and politically contingent discourses (Fairclough, 1992; Burr, 1995, 1998; Gergen, 1999). Here, the term 'discourses' means coherent systems of meaning, bodies of knowledge or ways of viewing the world that operate in a 'field of discursivity' to create a 'superstructure' through which society is articulated (

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Australia at the Crossroads: Radical Free Market or Progressive Liberalism? Key Issues and Conclusions

Abstract: The author highlights the alternative choices open to Australian policy makers in their quest to achieve an acceptable balance between three potentially conflicting quality goals: improved efficiency (GDP per capita), full employment, and distributional equity.

Cited by 12 publications

References 1 publication

Reforming Victoria's primary health and community service sector:rural implications

Reforming Victoria's primary health and community service sector:rural implications

Neo-liberalism and the politics of Australian aid policy-making

Looking Back and Moving Forward: Historicising the Social Construction of Early Childhood Education and Care as National Work

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