Australian Social Policy Conference 2015: Right and Entitlements in Times of Austerity

Activity: Participating in or organising an eventConference participation

Description

Co-author of presentation given by Roy Sainsbury at the conference: "Supported employment in a time of austerity: A view from Europe with an eye on Australia " This biennial conference is the country's leading event for the discussion and dissemination of social policy and aims to bring together researchers, practitioners and policy makers from across disciplines and provides an opportunity to explore research and practice. The Global Financial Crisis has severely affected welfare states around the world, with governments in many countries cutting back welfare entitlements at the same time as large numbers of people are becoming impoverished and marginalised by the effects of the crisis. The overall direction of social policy is towards more targeting, more user-pays, more activation, less entitlement and more punitive sanctions for those who default on their obligations. Growing inequality is increasingly accepted as an immutable characteristic of the modern welfare state. These trends are a matter of grave concern for the more vulnerable members of society and for those working with them. In this context the debates around rights and entitlements have become increasingly intense and hard fought. Australia has managed to retain and even to expand its welfare provision in some significant respects, particularly with the introduction of the National Disability Insurance Scheme. However it is now rapidly moving in the same direction as other states. Austerity can be a spur to creativity and invention, forcing the development of new and innovative ways of harnessing the resources in society to address poverty, marginalisation and exclusion. Thus the importance of learning from each other’s experience is crucial for addressing the challenges of maintaining rights and entitlements in the face of global austerity.
Period28 Sept 201530 Sept 2015
Event typeConference
LocationSydney, AustraliaShow on map

Keywords

  • disability
  • employment
  • austerity