The Careless State

Reforming Australia’s Social Services

Mark Considine
Paperback
Added to basketCheckout →
Ships in 1–3 days
Other formats available

The Careless State

Reforming Australia’s Social Services

Mark Considine
A powerful statement of how to fix Australia's failing social services
The lives of all Australians are profoundly affected by the quality of social services available, but a long list of royal commissions and public inquiries have revealed them to be failing. In The Careless State Mark Considine shows that the preferred model of reform has failed to adapt and improve In the 1980s Australian governments faced rapidly increasing demand for services in areas like employment assistance, aged care, childcare and vocational education and training; to respond to this challenge, governments led by Bob Hawke and Paul Keating pioneered the introduction of service markets, where private companies compete with public institutions and charities in newly constructed social services. This 'choice revolution' was embraced and extended by the Howard government. Market choice continues to drive reform across a wide spectrum of programs and social services. Considine's detailed investigation demonstrates conclusively that important aspects of the experiment with social service markets have failed.…
The lives of all Australians are profoundly affected by the quality of social services available, but a long list of royal commissions and public inquiries have revealed them to be failing. In The Careless State Mark Considine shows that the preferred model of reform has failed to adapt and improve. In the 1980s Australian governments faced rapidly increasing demand for services in areas like employment assistance, aged care, childcare and vocational education and training; to respond to this challenge, governments led by Bob Hawke and Paul Keating pioneered the introduction of service markets, where private companies compete with public institutions and charities in newly constructed social services. This 'choice revolution' was embraced and extended by the Howard government. Market choice continues to drive reform across a wide spectrum of programs and social services. Considine's detailed investigation demonstrates conclusively that important aspects of the experiment with social service markets have failed. Weak quality control, systematic rorting and entrenched disadvantage have become the norm. Private business interests and shareholders' interest have often displaced established charities and commitment to quality care for all. The service systems are careless, leaving clients to make choices without real information or protection. Considine points to alternative ways that reforms could be configured to get the best from both private and public agencies, and find a new approach to save these failing services.

A timely and forensic examination of the failures of the Australian government’s provision of social services.”
Books + Publishing

It’s hard to think of a more timely book than Mark Considine’s The Careless State. With so many of our essential services in crisis after the impact of COVID-19, Considine deftly traces the source of multiple failures in our systems of social care to the reforms of the 1980s and 90s, which undermined and outsourced the responsibility of the state for our collective wellbeing under the guise of ‘consumer choice’. This is an accessible and sobering work of social policy analysis that is essential to understanding where we have gone wrong, and what we can do to restore the integrity and utility of essential social services in Australia.”
Emma Dawson

In its elevation of choice and competition, Australia’s marketisation of social services has succeeded in lining the pockets of shareholders, enterprising politicians and their families, and a pack of shameless fraudsters. It has been less successful in delivering affordable and high-quality services, especially to the most vulnerable. Mark Considine’s stimulating account will leave many readers angry, but all of them better informed about what went wrong, what is working, and how social service provision might be made to serve both the public good and those it is meant to help.”
Frank Bongiorno

Mark Considine

Mark Considine

Mark Considine is Redmond Barry Distinguished Professor of Political Science at the University of Melbourne. He is best known for prize-winning research on public sector reform, new methods of governance and the street-level delivery of public programs. He and his team have pioneered work on the long-run institutional impacts of different service delivery regimes. Mark has also had a significant career in leadership roles within higher education and as a contributor to policy innovation inside…

More

Paperback
Added to basketCheckout →
Ships in 1–3 days
Other formats available