Hostname: page-component-cd9895bd7-8ctnn Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-12-25T02:54:34.910Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false

Continuity or Change? Disability Policy and the Rudd Government

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  10 February 2012

Karen Soldatic
Affiliation:
Centre for Human Rights Education, Curtin University of Technology E-mail: [email protected]
Barbara Pini
Affiliation:
The John Curtin Institute of Public Policy, Curtin University of Technology E-mail: [email protected]

Abstract

This article reports on shifts and continuities in policy relating to disabled people and the administrative apparatus of federal disability policy under the Rudd government (2007–10). It begins with a brief historical overview of disability policy in Australia. It then gives particular attention to highlighting the contentious and dramatic changes to disability policy which were instigated by the Howard government (1996–2007). Following this, attention is focused on the major developments in disability policy and administration with the election of the Rudd Labor government in 2007. Through this discussion, we demonstrate the ways the altered vocabularies, practices and instruments of the state have manifested in relation to disability policy in Australia, ultimately shaping opportunities for either inclusion or exclusion at the national level among disabled people.

Type
Articles
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2012

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

ACROD (1982) ‘ACROD's representation of disabled people’, ACROD Newsletter, March, 14–15.Google Scholar
ACROD (2007) ‘Social security lacks flexibility, says Ombudsman’, press release, 26 October 2007.Google Scholar
Anderson, F. (2011) ‘Disability pensions under scrutiny’, Australian Financial Review, 3 February, 8.Google Scholar
Australian Government (2005a) ‘Government's response to the Productivity Commission's Review of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992’, http://www.ag.gov.au/PCDDA [accessed 26.04.2006].Google Scholar
Australian Government (2005b) ‘2005/06 Budget press release’, 10 May 2005, Canberra.Google Scholar
Australian Government (2008a) ‘National mental health and disability employment strategy’, discussion paper, Canberra.Google Scholar
Australian Government (2008b) ‘$500,000 to expand advocacy for people with disability’, press release, 31 October 2008, http://www.billshorten.fahcsia.gov.au/internet/billshorten.nsf/content/expand_advocacy_31oct08.htm [accessed 22.10.2009].Google Scholar
Australian Government (2009a) National Mental Health and Disability Employment Strategy Update: Setting the Direction, Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Australian Government (2009b) ‘$1.2 billion job services for people with disabilities’, press release, 7 April 2009, Canberra.Google Scholar
Australian Government (2009c) ‘Secure and sustainable pension reform: three million Australian pensioners benefit from reforms’, press release, 12 May 2009, Canberra.Google Scholar
Australian Government (2009d) Shut Out: The Experience of People with Disabilities and Their Families in Australia, Canberra.Google Scholar
Australian Labor Party (2007) ‘Disability and carers: election 07 fact sheet’, http://www.kevin07.com.au [accessed 30.05.2009].Google Scholar
Australian Medical Association (2009) ‘AMA backs call for national disability insurance scheme’, http://www.ama.com.au/node/5011 [accessed 07.10. 2009].Google Scholar
Baker, K. (2009) ‘Disability moving on to centre stage at last’, Link Magazine, 18, 3, 1011.Google Scholar
Barnes, C. and Mercer, G. (2006) Independent Futures: Creating User-Led Disability Services in a Disabling Society, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Baume, P. and Kay, K. (1995) Working Solution: Report on the Strategic Review of the Commonwealth Disability Services Program, Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Bessant, J., Watts, R., Dalton, T. and Smyth, P. (2006) Talking Policy: How Social Policy Is Made, Sydney: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Bonyhady, B. (2008) ‘Better support for carers inquiry’, House of Representatives Standing Committee on Family, Community, Housing and Youth, Hansard, Parliament of Australia, 15 December 2008, http://www.ndis.org.au/downloads/Hansard_NDIS_Carers_Inquiry_02–09.pdf [accessed 22.10.2009].Google Scholar
Bramble, T. and Kuhn, R. (2010) Labor's Conflict: Big Business, Workers and the Politics of Class, Melbourne: Cambridge University Press.Google Scholar
Carney, T. and Ramia, G. (2002) ‘Mutuality, Mead & McClure: more “big M's” for the unemployed’, Australian Journal of Social Issues, 37, 3, 277300.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Carney, T. (2006) ‘Neoliberal welfare reform and “rights” compliance under Australian social security law’, Australian Journal of Human Rights, 12, 1, 223–53.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Cass, B., Gibson, F. and Tito, F. (1988) Towards Enabling Policies: Income Support for People with Disabilities, Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Chouinard, V. and Crooks, V. A. (2008) ‘Negotiating neoliberal environments in British Columbia and Ontario, Canada: restructuring of state–voluntary sector relations and disability organizations’ struggles to survive’, Environment and Planning D: Government and Policy, 26, 173–90.Google Scholar
Clear, M. (2000) Promises, Promises, Leichhardt: The Federation Press.Google Scholar
Clear, M. and Gleeson, B. (2001) ‘Disability and materialist embodiment’, Journal of Australian Political Economy, 49, 1, 3455.Google Scholar
Cocks, E. and Stehlik, D. (1996) ‘History of services’, in Annison, J., Jenkinson, J., Sparrow, W. and Bethune, E. (eds.), Disability: A Guide for Health Professionals, Melbourne: Thomas Nelson, pp. 253–71.Google Scholar
Commonwealth of Australia (1985) New Direction Report: Report on the Handicapped Programs Review, Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Cooper, M. (2001) ‘New crisis in funding disability peaks’, Just Policy, 22, 1, 5660.Google Scholar
Corrigan, S. (2009) ‘Plan for no-fault disability insurance’, The Australian, 21 October, http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,25243313-5013404,00.html [accessed 22.10.2009].Google Scholar
Dempsey, I. and Ford, J. (2009) ‘Employment for people with intellectual disability in Australia and the United Kingdom’, Journal of Disability Policy Studies, 19, 4, 233–43.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Department of Community Services (DCS) (1989) An Evaluation of the National Demonstration Disability Projects Program, Canberra: Australian Government Publishing Service.Google Scholar
Department of Human Services and Health (DHSH) (1995) Performance Based Funding: A Framework for Funding Disability Employment Services, Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Department of Family and Community Services (FaCS) (1999) Commonwealth Disability Services Census 1998, Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Department of the Parliamentary Library (2001) Family and Community Services Legislation Amendment (Disability Reform) Bill 2002, Bills Digest No. 157, Canberra: Department of the Parliamentary Library.Google Scholar
Department of the Parliamentary Library (2002) Family and Community Services Legislation Amendment (Disability Reform) Bill (No. 2) 2002, Bills Digest No. 125, Canberra: Department of the Parliamentary Library.Google Scholar
Department of the Parliamentary Library (2003) Family and Community Services Legislation Amendment (Disability Reform) Bill (No. 2) 2002, Bills Digest No. 125, Canberra: Department of the Parliamentary Library.Google Scholar
Department of the Parliamentary Library (2005) Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment (Welfare to Work and Other Measures) Bill 2005, Bills Digest No. 70, Canberra: Department of the Parliamentary Library.Google Scholar
Department of Prime Minister and Cabinet (2008) Australian 2020 Summit: Full Report, Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Commonwealth Department of Social Security (DSS) (1975) Annual Report 1974/1975, Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Dickey, B. (1987) No Charity There: A Short History of Social Welfare in Australia, 2nd edn, Sydney: Allen & Unwin.Google Scholar
Disability Advisory Council of Australia (DACA) (1991) ‘Consultation with people with disabilities and their families’, Breakthrough, 65, 35.Google Scholar
Disability Participation Alliance (2005) Background Paper, People with Disability: Participation and Payment Forum, Sydney: Disability Participation Alliance.Google Scholar
Drake, R. (1999) Understanding Disability Policies, London: MacMillan.Google Scholar
Driedger, D. (1989) The Last Civil Rights Movement, New York: St Martin's Press.Google Scholar
Erkulwater, J. (2006) Disability Rights and the American Safety Net, Ithaca: Cornell University Press.Google Scholar
Evans, J. (1989) ‘New directions in disability: a report on the progress of the “deserving poor”’, in Kennedy, R. (ed.), Australian Welfare, Melbourne: Macmillan, pp. 242–62.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
Frawley, P. and Digby, C. (2009) ‘Inclusion in political and public life: the experiences of people with intellectual disability on government disability advisory bodies in Australia’, accepted for the Fourth Round Table on Intellectual Disability, October 2009.Google Scholar
Galbally, R. (2009) ‘National Press Club speech’, 7 October, Canberra.Google Scholar
Goggin, G. and Newell, C. (2005) Disability in Australia: Exposing a Social Apartheid, Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.Google Scholar
Hamer, J. (2009) Pension Review Report, Canberra: Department of Families, Housing, Community Services and Indigenous Affairs.Google Scholar
Harvey, D. (2005) A Brief History of Neoliberalism, Oxford: Oxford University Press.Google Scholar
Henry, K. (2010) Australia's Future Tax System, Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Horin, A. (2009) ‘Official calls for disabled care levy’, Sydney Morning Herald, 19 February, http://www.smh.com.au/national/official-calls-for-disabled-care-levy-20090218–8bgd.html [accessed 22.10.2009].Google Scholar
International Year of the Disabled Persons (IYDP) National Committee of Non-Government Organisations (1983) Break Down the Barriers, Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Jakubowicz, A. and Meekosha, H. (2002) ‘Bodies in motion: critical issues between disability studies and multicultural studies’, Journal of Intercultural Studies, 23, 237–52.Google Scholar
Leipoldt, E. (2009) ‘A national disability insurance scheme – a barrier to service?’, http://www.onlineopinion.com.au/view.asp?article=9539 [accessed 19.10.2009].Google Scholar
Levitas, R. (1998) The Inclusive Society? Social Exclusion and New Labour, London: Macmillan.Google Scholar
Lindsay, M. (1996) Background Paper 2 1995–96, Commonwealth Disability Policy, 1983–1995, Social Policy Group, Parliamentary Library of Australia, http://www.aph.gov.au/library/pubs/bp/1995–96/96bp06.htm [accessed 20.05.2003].Google Scholar
Macklin, J. (2008) ‘Letter to women with disabilities Australia’, personal communication with Community Advocacy Group, 4 April 2008.Google Scholar
Maddison, S. and Hamilton, C. (2007) ‘Non government organisations’, in Hamilton, C. and Maddison, S. (eds.), Silencing Dissent, Sydney: Allen & Unwin, pp. 78100.Google Scholar
McElwaine, E. and Ford, J. (1994) ‘Impact of national economic reform agenda on people with severe disabilities’, Australian Disability Review, 4, 2, 1320.Google Scholar
Meekosha, H. (2002) ‘Virtual activists? Women and the making of identities of disability’, Hypatia, 17, 3, 6788.Google Scholar
Mendes, P. (2008) Australia's Welfare Wars Revisited, 2nd edn, Sydney: University of New South Wales Press.Google Scholar
Mendes, P. (2009) ‘Retrenching or renovating the Australian welfare state: the paradox of the Howard government's neoliberalism’, International Journal of Social Welfare, 18, 1, 102–10.Google Scholar
National Arts and Disability Strategy Working Group of the Cultural Ministers Council (2008) National Arts and Disability Strategy: A Discussion Paper, Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar
National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) (2009) National Disability Insurance Scheme, http://www.ndis.org.au [accessed 12.09.2009].Google Scholar
National People with Disabilities and Carers Council (NPDCC) (2009) Shut Out: The Experience of People with Disabilities and Their Families in Australia, Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Newell, C. (1996) ‘The disability rights movement in Australia: a note from the trenches’, Disability and Society, 11, 5, 42–32.Google Scholar
Newman, J. (1999) ‘Family and the future of welfare in the 21st century’, speech 29 September, Canberra.Google Scholar
O'Flynn, J. (2009) ‘The cult of collaboration in public policy’, Australian Journal of Public Policy, 68, 1, 1116.Google Scholar
Park, M. (2005) Research note no. 2 – Disability Support Pensioners Statistics Section, Canberra: Parliamentary Library of Australia.Google Scholar
Parmenter, T. (1999) ‘Effecting a system change in the delivery of employment services for people with disabilities: a view from Australia’, Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation, 13, 2, 117–29.Google Scholar
People with Disabilities Australia (PWD) (2003) ‘New carers advisory organisation’, PWD E-Bulletin, 1 October: 6.Google Scholar
Productivity Commission (2004) Review of the Disability Discrimination Act 1992, Report no. 30, Melbourne: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Ramon, S. (2008) ‘Neoliberalism and its implications for mental health in the UK’, International Journal of Law and Psychiatry, 31, 2, 116–25.Google Scholar
Reference Group on Welfare Reform (2000) Participation for a More Equitable Society (McClure Report), Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Ronalds, C. (1990) National Employment Initiatives for People with Disabilities: Report of the National Consultations with People, Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar
Roulstone, A. and Barnes, C. (2005) ‘Introduction’, in Roulstone, A. and Barnes, C. (eds.), Working Future? Disabled People, Policy and Social Inclusion, Bristol: Policy Press.Google Scholar
Roulstone, A. and Morgan, H. (2009) ‘Neo-liberal individualism or self-directed support: are we all speaking the same language on modernising adult social care?’, Social Policy and Society, 8, 3, 333–45.Google Scholar
Rudd, K. (2007) ‘Rudd promises welfare to work review’, http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2007/11/09/2086517.htm [accessed 11.08.2009].Google Scholar
Rudd, K. (2009) ‘The global financial crisis’, The Monthly, 42, February, 20–9.Google Scholar
Ryan, N. (1995) ‘The competitive delivery of social services: implications for program implementation’, Australian Journal of Public Administration, 54, 3, 353–64.Google Scholar
Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs (1992) Employment of People with Disabilities, Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Senate Standing Committee on Community Affairs (2007) Funding and Operation of the Commonwealth State/Territory Disability Agreement, Canberra: Commonwealth of Australia.Google Scholar
Shorten, B. (2009b) ‘Right to an ordinary life’, speech, 1 April, Canberra.Google Scholar
Soldatic, K. and Pini, B. (2009) ‘The three D's of welfare reform: disability, disgust and deservingness’, Australian Journal of Human Rights, 15, 1, 7694.Google Scholar
Steketee, M. (2009) ‘Disability insurance a real reform’, Weekend Australian: The Inquirer, 12 August: 2.Google Scholar
United Nations (2009) Status on the Convention for the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, http://treaties.un.org/Pages/ViewDetails.aspx?src=TREATY&mtdsg_no=IV-15&chapter=4&lang=en [accessed 13.07.2009].Google Scholar
Ward, M. (2006) ‘The vision of the Disability Services Act 1986: a never-ending struggle’, Journal of Intellectual and Developmental Disability, 31, 4, 253–4.Google Scholar
Women with Disabilities Australia (2006) ‘Working towards a common understanding of advocacy’, submission to the National Disability Advocacy Program (NDAP), Consultation paper, http://www.wwda.org.au/ndapsub07.htm [accessed 13.08.2008].Google Scholar
Women with Disabilities Australia (2009) ‘Advances in disability and human rights legislation welcomed’, WWDA News, 2, 13.Google Scholar
Yeatman, A. (1996) Getting Real: The Final Report of the Review of the Commonwealth State Disability Agreement, Canberra: Australian Government.Google Scholar