THE FAMILY AND THE AUSTRALIAN WELFARE STATE

This article discusses, by example, recent trends in government welfare policies and their impact on Australian families. Focus is on the move towards privatisation and the development of the ‘complex interventionist state’.     

FAMILY CARERS: SOME IMPEDIMENTS TO EFFECTIVE POLICY AND SERVICE DEVELOPMENT

The shift to community care for people with disabilities in Australia has given rise to some recognition and acknowledgment, in both academic research and policy development, of the importance of their carers. However, information about government policy and services for carers is fragmented and limited. Our knowledge about the prevalence of caregiving and the socio-demographic characteristics of carers and their service needs, is inadequate. Studies in relation to carer use of and satisfaction with services tend to be small scale and focussed on a specific service or carer group. Carer views on broader mainstream service provision have received little attention. This paper identifies gaps in our knowledge as well as the practical and conceptual difficulties in documenting the range of services available and the relevant social policy. These difficulties are likely to reflect barriers to broad and effective policy and service development.     

ANCILLARY AND SPECIALIST HEALTH SERVICES: THE RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN INCOME,USER RATES AND EQUITY OF ACCESS

Australia's public health system currently provides substantial funding to, amongst its other objectives, ensure access to hospital, medical and pharmaceutical services by all families irrespective of income (McClelland, 1991, p. 6). However most ancillary services are not similarly subsidised and there is some evidence that income presents a barrier to the use of these services. There is also evidence that low income might also reduce access to specialist medical practitioner services which, while funded through Medicare, are less likely to be bulk billed than general practitioner services, and which therefore attract higher out-of pocket costs. In this study, the 1989–90 National Health Survey is used to examine whether there are indicators that low income reduces access to a range of ancillary services such as physiotherapy, optician services, chiropractic and dental services and to specialist medical practitioner services.     

THE RESPONSIBILITY TO CURE AND THE RIGHT TO DIE: CARDIOPULMONARY RESUSCITATION AND HOSPITAL STRUCTURE

Cardiopulmonary resuscitation has become a routine procedure in hospitals in spite of the fact that it may be carried out without orders from a physician or consent from the patient It has a high failure rate and some research has indicated that the benefits to patients may be questionable. This article analyses some aspects of the structure of hospitals, other than the role of patient care and cure, which provide sociological explanations for the firm entrenchment and indiscriminate use of the procedure.     

一起去地心历险吧!

你在电影院里体验过这样的境界吗?萤火鸟在身边盘旋,似乎触手可及;水珠在空中飘浮,一滴滴清晰可见;食人鱼忽然张开大嘴,仿佛从银幕上扑了出来;还有身临其境的废矿飞车,可以跟车上的人感受同等程度的刺激和惊险,好像过山车……如果没有,那就赶快去看看3D大片<地心历险记>吧,这是不可错过的视觉,身心享受!     

THE RUSH TO REGULATE: THE SHIFT IN AUSTRALIA FROM THE RULE OF MARKETS TO THE RULE OF CAPITAL

There has been a significant shift in the momentum of national economic policy in Australia, from the market as an end in itself, towards a regulated policy agenda that asserts the social, cultural and economic rule of capital. This ‘new’ policy is what neo‐liberalism really involves. Arguments about ‘free markets’ and ‘economic rationalism’ fail to recognise the shift and are thus not germane to current policy analysis.     

体制和结构双调整中的日本经济

“哭穷”。“衰败论”、“转型论”和“哭穷论”各执一词 ,孰是孰非一时难下定论。但这三种观点中都不排斥“调整”一词。日本经济需要调整 ,也确实在进行调整。调整正在从经济体制和产业结构两个方面同时展开。由此可以认为 ,应该认真地看一下日本经济在调整什么、用什么方法调整及调整出了什么结果。弄清了这三个问题之后 ,方可对日本经济的走向做出实事求是的判断。一、政府主导型不完全竞争“政府主导型不完全竞争经济体制”曾是昔日日本经济辉煌的体制保障 ,同时也是当今日本经济不景气的体制根源。“政府主导型不完全竞争经济体制”主…     

FROM TENDER CARE TO TENDERED CARE: THE CASE OF THE VICTORIAN MATERNAL AND CHILD HEALTH SERVICE

Restructuring the public sector along market principles has been a major policy development of the late twentieth century in most western countries. This paper examines the impact of recent political and administrative change on a Victorian universal primary health program, the Maternal and Child Health Service (MCHS). The first section establishes the development of the service in the years when an interventionist state provided bureaucratic support for the expansion of public health activities. In the next significant period of organisational change, the 1980s‐early 1990s, key interest groups articulated their positions in view of the administrative imperatives of corporate managerialism. Dramatic ‘marketisation ’ of the service then occurred with the impact of compulsory competitive tendering (CCT) in the mid‐1990s. The paper argues that attention to the complex processes of change shows the interplay of interest groups, discursive positions and administrative regimes, with new strategies emerging to counter the contracting state.