Time and date: 9.30 - 11.00 am, Thursday, December 8, 2005
Place: Centenary Lecture Theatre, University of Tasmania, Sandy Bay Campus, Sandy Bay
Chair: James Rice
Neoliberalism, Inequality and Politics: Public Policy and the Transformation of Australian Society
Mark Western, Janeen Baxter, Jan Pakulski, Bruce Tranter, John Western, Marcel van Egmond, Jenny Chesters, Amanda Hosking, Martin O'Flaherty, and Yolanda van Gellecum
The 1980s and 1990s saw the most profound transformation of Australian public policy since World War II and one that fundamentally reworked a framework in place since Federation. This transformation was underwritten by two principles: liberalism (the view that citizens are autonomous individual actors whose interests are best served when they are free from coercive government interventions into individual action) and marketisation (the belief that free markets are arenas which best enable individual autonomy and produce efficient economic outcomes). These principles define 'neoliberalism' or 'hard liberalism'. How have these policy changes affected Australian society. This paper introduces a new collaborative research project that will examine relationships between neoliberalism and social mobility and socioeconomic inequality, gender relations, and politics in Australia since the early 1980s.
Inequality, Welfare and Indigenous Australia
Maggie Walter
Indigenous Australia is differentially, as well as inequitably, positioned within the Australian social strata. The heavily disadvantaged position of Indigenous people across all social and economic inequality indicators is unambiguous, but this unrelenting inequality is inextricably entwined with the socio-political and material reality of Indigenous people's lives, as Indigenous people, in contemporary Australia. This paper develops this theme via an examination of the Indigenous relationship to, and inequitable position within, the Australian welfare system. At its base is the stark fact that Indigenous Australians are heavily over-represented among those in receipt of state-funded welfare programs, assistance or benefits. In contemporary Australia, however, the concept of 'Indigenous welfare' can never be an abstract discussion of rates or levels of payment: the concept is neither neutral nor apolitical. Political, moral and racial evaluations inevitably filtrate through any discussion and these dimensions intersect with the social positioning of Indigenous Australia. The impacts of current Indigenous specific and mainstream welfare reform are included in this discussion.
Socioeconomic Inequalities in Health in Early Childhood: The Platform for Later Lifecourse Health Inequalities
Jake M Najman, William Bor, Michael O'Callaghan, Gail Williams, Rosemary Aird, and Greg Shuttlewood
Socioeconomic inequalities in health are amongst the most consistent and pervasive of research findings. In recent years a great deal has been written about the factors which contribute to these inequalities, with lifestyle 'choices' the main accepted basis of these health inequalities.
Studies of health over the lifecourse have led to increased interest in early childhood as it constitutes a platform for adult occurring health inequalities. In early childhood the foundations of adult lifestyle and health are established. Skills related to future employment are developed while many adult lifestyle characteristics such as tobacco use, diet and physical activity patterns are established. Three characteristics of children are indicators of the adequacy of the platform for adult health. These are child cognitive development (IQ), child mental health and child aggressive/delinquent behaviour. In each of the above domains there are substantial socioeconomic inequalities in early childhood; inequalities which continue into adult life. There is a need to shift the policy focus to enabling children to have a more equal start to their lives.
Time and date: 7.45 for 8.00 pm, Tuesday, December 6, 2005
Place: The Spice, 16a Princes Street, Sandy Bay
Members of the Social Stratification Thematic Group will be meeting for dinner at the time and place mentioned above. The Spice (licensed and BYO bottled wine) is a short stroll from the Sandy Bay Campus of the University of Tasmania. Entrees are about $10, mains are around $17, and vegetarian options are available.
If you would like to come along, please RSVP before 5.00 pm, Friday, December 2, by emailing Romy Winter at:
All welcome.