The 'social rights' of citizenship and the Australian welfare state: changes in income support for people with disabilities 1945-2004
Scott Burrows
School of Management, Marketing and Employment Relations, University of Wollongong
Contact Email:   sburrowsuow.edu.au

Citizenship has been an underpinning philosophy of the Australian welfare state since 1945 and is central to the rights of all citizens in a modern society, including people with disabilities. The ‘social rights’ of citizenship in the Australian welfare state and the associated income support for people with disabilities are one example of these rights in Australia. The historical developments of the post World War Two period within the Australian welfare state were closely aligned with the early assumptions that citizenship in a modern society exemplified legal, political and social rights. During the 1970s, domestic and international pressures on the Australian welfare state led citizenship to reformulation, one that emphasised ‘rights’ and ‘responsibilities’. Critics of citizenship argued for further rights from the hegemony of the market while others argued for furthering liberty and obligations from an over-coercive state. The latter has been prominent in recent developments in welfare reform and argues strongly about the ‘responsibilities’ obligated to income recipients. Since the mid 1990s people with disabilities have been subjected to ongoing reforms that emphasise terms such as ‘mutual obligation’, ‘participation support’ etc. This paper explains and analyses these historical changes and argues that income support for people with disabilities has been transformed from a ‘right’ to a ‘responsibility’. The central emphasis placed on the ‘responsibility’ rather than the ‘right’ component highlights the peripheral role of the Australian welfare state in the 21st century and of the measures designed for income support for people with disabilities.

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