This ambitious book by John Murphy makes a substantial contribution to the history of social policy in Australia and to the comparative international literature on the rise of welfare state systems.
The author begins with a puzzle: how did Australia arrive at a system of welfare provision funded from general taxation, and not supplementary contributions, which was heavily means tested? Murphy employs the concept of ‘path dependence’ to explain why it was so difficult to shift the policy trajectory towards a national contribution system so common elsewhere. The legacy of the ‘social laboratory’ phase of Australian history loomed large in later debates. In particular the institution of the arbitrated basic wage blocked parallel policy developments. This argument critically engages with Francis Castles' characterisation of the Australasian welfare model as a wage earners' welfare state, based on tariff protection of industry and the protection of the male workers. Murphy suggests that the current literature is too focused on wage levels rather than the presence of the wage-fixing institution itself. In chapters six, seven and eight, Murphy shows that in the debates over child endowments in the 1920s and a contributory system in 1938–1939 what counted was not whether current wage levels were adequate, but how any changes would interact with the arbitrated wage. The Labor Party bemoaned the additional ‘tax’ on workers as a wage cut, while other parties vocalised the concern amongst employers that the arbitration board could be used to shift the cost of contributions and additional benefits over to employers.
Chapters one and two look at the causes and consequences of the lack of any Poor Law system in Australia. The dogged determination to avoid implementing a Poor Law left an institutional void, which facilitated the growth of a ‘mixed economy’ of welfare. Charities, friendly societies, churches and subscriber-based asylums are all given equal weight. It is a minor gripe but Murphy slightly understates the significance of the friendly societies in providing benefits for the long-term sick and de facto pensions. The first chapter is pivotal. Murphy demonstrates that despite never having a Poor Law, Australian policy was blinkered by its conceptual categories; the notion of outdoor relief as pauperising was influential throughout the twentieth century and even informed the Howard government reforms.
Chapters three to five trace the emergence of an advanced welfare system between 1890 and 1920. Chapter three explains why New South Wales (NSW) and Victoria developed such different old age pension schemes at the turn of the century. Murphy argues that for a number of reasons (a stronger labour movement, a more advanced charitable sector which could provide information and guidance, a more active ‘new liberalism’) the NSW legislation was more progressive than Victoria's, which was confused and informed by anti-Poor Law language. Chapter four documents the establishment of arbitration, the living wage, a universal maternity allowance, tariff protection and the White Australia policy. Murphy avoids any teleological narrative. The implementation of the living wage was uneven and the old age pension required substantial reworking because of variation between the states. The outcome was often confused. Maoris in NSW lost their pension rights while Chinese who had lived in Australia for a decade were entitled to a pension. Murphy concludes that in the case of the pension drawing the colour line was ‘more fraught and more complicated … than simply asserting “whiteness” or naturalization as a criteria’ (p. 102). Chapter six argues that Commonwealth provisions for veterans created a parallel welfare state after the Great War. The literature on remembrance and commemoration has tended to downplay the importance of welfare schemes for veterans. Murphy contends that the commitments made were huge and part of the process of national remembrance. Moreover, these schemes informed later social policy developments.
Chapters six, seven and eight are the most original and challenging and encapsulate the main arguments of the book. Arbitration loomed large and scuppered further policy developments. Australia went from ‘social laboratory’ to ‘welfare laggard’. However, The Depression highlighted the inadequacy of existing frameworks, and in particular the impotency of charity in dealing with such mass unemployment. Amidst the suffering the prevailing discourses about poverty, self-reliance and justice would come under severe strains. The depression had the potential to be the shock that shifted the policy trajectory. However, arbitration reared its head once again in the late 1930s and to the dismay of many involved the attempt to establish a national insurance system flopped. Yet there were significant changes at the ideological level. The Labor Party began to see social welfare as a mechanism for redistribution and not simply an insurance system. They proposed using general taxation as the means to fund welfare spending. In clarifying their stance during the 1938–1939 debate on national insurance Labor also made a significant conceptual break over means testing, and showed no qualms about using it as a way to target welfare payments.
The final chapter deals with the establishment of Labor's welfare state between 1941 and 1949. Keynesianism was pivotal. Labor argued that a more rationalised taxation and benefit system was part of creating a balanced ‘integrated economy’. Significant elements were added to the existing system: the widow's pension, allowances for the dependents of pensioners, and unemployment and sickness benefits. Yet Murphy avoids a triumphalist interpretation of the 1940s. The welfare state created was actually fairly minimalist and was still organised around ensuring favourable labour market conditions for the male breadwinner. As Ben Chifley wrote in 1943: ‘social security services are at best palliative to the world's economic problems, and they should be less and less necessary as economic problems are mastered, full employment maintained and national incomes maintained’ (p. 224).
A decent provision is extremely readable and would serve well as a comprehensive introduction to the history of Australian social policy. Murphy presents a challenging argument about the emergence of a distinctive Australian path and this book is of relevance for the comparative literature on welfare policy. The conclusion shows that past debates about the welfare state have a modern legacy, making this book both interesting and salient.
