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Article: Peter Saunders, The Ends and Means of Welfare: Coping with economic and social change in Australia.(Book Review)
- Article from:
- Journal of Australian Studies
- Article date:
- September 1, 2003
- Author:
CopyrightCOPYRIGHT 2003 University of Queensland Press. This material is published under license from the publisher through the Gale Group, Farmington Hills, Michigan. All inquiries regarding rights should be directed to the Gale Group. (Hide copyright information)
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Cambridge University Press, 2002, pp 300, pb $39.95, ISBN 0521524431.
Why is Australia's quality of life diminishing as the fiercely individualistic market economy undergoes continued growth? This is the key question underlying Professor Saunders's readable and thoroughly researched book. Saunders argues that after three decades of reform discussion we have reached 'reform fatigue' in which neither political party has a sustainable policy solution. He identifies a contradictory process as Labor and Liberal strategists call on market mechanisms to achieve social ends through privatisation, 'user pays' systems and service brokerage such as the Job Network. This ...