Post by Deleted on Jul 7, 2018 6:53:49 GMT 7
This is for anyone seriously interested in knowing about "what counts as welfare" and the spin they put on it. I found it seriously hard reading and couldn't finish it. Cheers bear
What counts as welfare spending?
Introduction
Debates over the federal budget often refer to the level of ‘welfare’ spending. However the term welfare is often poorly defined. This can lead to confusion.
The ambiguity of the term ‘welfare’ is a problem across English-speaking countries. For example, in a post on the House of Commons Library Blog, Rod McInnes writes:
The word ‘welfare’ does not have a single universally accepted definition in the context of public expenditure. For some people, the word is associated with cash handouts for working-age people who are workless or on low incomes. Others define the term more broadly to encompass other strands of benefit expenditure, or even services provided as benefits-in-kind by the ‘welfare state’, such as the NHS [National Health Service], social care or free school meals. The word ‘welfare’ may also be felt by some to carry a certain stigma, whereas others may consider it neutral rather than pejorative.[1]
At its broadest welfare can be used to refer to all of the programs and services that make up the welfare state. This can include health and education, as well as income support payments such as the Age Pension, Carer Payment, Disability Support Pension and Newstart Allowance.
Welfare can also refer to the administrative category of ‘social security and welfare’. This category is used in budget papers and includes spending on aged care, child care, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), family assistance payments and income support payments.
Welfare can also refer to a much narrower (and less clearly defined) category of spending on income support payments to people of working age. These welfare payments are means-tested benefits provided in cash. They go to people of working age who are not participating in paid employment or other activities such as education or vocational training. The term welfare can be applied loosely to spending that meets some or all of these criteria. It is a moral or political category rather than a legal or administrative one. It is often associated with the idea that recipients have not earned an entitlement to payments through contributions to the community.
Use of this political category of welfare has become increasingly common in Australian political debate. The category tends to include unemployment payments, such as Newstart Allowance, and payments to people of working age claiming support on the grounds of disability or single parenthood.
Statistics on welfare spending play a central role in debates over government policy. However, in public debate it is not always clear which category these statistics refer to. Sometimes statistics that refer to the broad category of social security and welfare are presented as if they referred to the narrower political category of welfare.
If public debate is to be informed by facts, commentators need to pay close attention to the way categories such as welfare are defined. When categories remain vague and ambiguous, the statistics can conceal as much as they reveal.
The welfare state
In discussions about the welfare state the term welfare is used very broadly to refer to government-funded services, such as education and health, as well as means-tested payments, such as Newstart Allowance and the Age Pension. As Luke Buckmaster from the Australian Parliamentary Library writes:
At its broadest, welfare may refer to ‘well-being, happiness; health and prosperity (of a person or a community et cetera)’. It may also refer to arrangements aimed at ensuring or bringing about well-being. Thus, a useful definition of welfare is that it is that which ‘refers to the well-being of individuals or groups and, by implication, those measures which can help to ensure levels of well-being through provision of education, health services, managed housing, and social security benefits’. The term ‘welfare state’ refers to arrangements where provision of such measures is principally the responsibility of the state. Specifically, it refers to those policy arrangements supporting the substantial expansion of state responsibility for welfare in many countries following World War II. [2]
Governments generally do not use the broad category of welfare state when reporting spending.[3]
www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1516/WelfareSpend
If your eyes haven't glazed over yet, click the link to continue, The things people do to justify their existence, cheers bear
What counts as welfare spending?
Introduction
Debates over the federal budget often refer to the level of ‘welfare’ spending. However the term welfare is often poorly defined. This can lead to confusion.
The ambiguity of the term ‘welfare’ is a problem across English-speaking countries. For example, in a post on the House of Commons Library Blog, Rod McInnes writes:
The word ‘welfare’ does not have a single universally accepted definition in the context of public expenditure. For some people, the word is associated with cash handouts for working-age people who are workless or on low incomes. Others define the term more broadly to encompass other strands of benefit expenditure, or even services provided as benefits-in-kind by the ‘welfare state’, such as the NHS [National Health Service], social care or free school meals. The word ‘welfare’ may also be felt by some to carry a certain stigma, whereas others may consider it neutral rather than pejorative.[1]
At its broadest welfare can be used to refer to all of the programs and services that make up the welfare state. This can include health and education, as well as income support payments such as the Age Pension, Carer Payment, Disability Support Pension and Newstart Allowance.
Welfare can also refer to the administrative category of ‘social security and welfare’. This category is used in budget papers and includes spending on aged care, child care, the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), family assistance payments and income support payments.
Welfare can also refer to a much narrower (and less clearly defined) category of spending on income support payments to people of working age. These welfare payments are means-tested benefits provided in cash. They go to people of working age who are not participating in paid employment or other activities such as education or vocational training. The term welfare can be applied loosely to spending that meets some or all of these criteria. It is a moral or political category rather than a legal or administrative one. It is often associated with the idea that recipients have not earned an entitlement to payments through contributions to the community.
Use of this political category of welfare has become increasingly common in Australian political debate. The category tends to include unemployment payments, such as Newstart Allowance, and payments to people of working age claiming support on the grounds of disability or single parenthood.
Statistics on welfare spending play a central role in debates over government policy. However, in public debate it is not always clear which category these statistics refer to. Sometimes statistics that refer to the broad category of social security and welfare are presented as if they referred to the narrower political category of welfare.
If public debate is to be informed by facts, commentators need to pay close attention to the way categories such as welfare are defined. When categories remain vague and ambiguous, the statistics can conceal as much as they reveal.
The welfare state
In discussions about the welfare state the term welfare is used very broadly to refer to government-funded services, such as education and health, as well as means-tested payments, such as Newstart Allowance and the Age Pension. As Luke Buckmaster from the Australian Parliamentary Library writes:
At its broadest, welfare may refer to ‘well-being, happiness; health and prosperity (of a person or a community et cetera)’. It may also refer to arrangements aimed at ensuring or bringing about well-being. Thus, a useful definition of welfare is that it is that which ‘refers to the well-being of individuals or groups and, by implication, those measures which can help to ensure levels of well-being through provision of education, health services, managed housing, and social security benefits’. The term ‘welfare state’ refers to arrangements where provision of such measures is principally the responsibility of the state. Specifically, it refers to those policy arrangements supporting the substantial expansion of state responsibility for welfare in many countries following World War II. [2]
Governments generally do not use the broad category of welfare state when reporting spending.[3]
www.aph.gov.au/About_Parliament/Parliamentary_Departments/Parliamentary_Library/pubs/rp/rp1516/WelfareSpend
If your eyes haven't glazed over yet, click the link to continue, The things people do to justify their existence, cheers bear
