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Poverty in Perception

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Poverty in Perception QUEENSLAND UNIVERSITY OF TECHNOLOGY POVERTY IN PERCEPTION A STUDY OF THE TWENTIETH-CENTURY PRIME MINISTERS OF AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND A THESIS SUBMITTED TO THE DISCIPLINE OF SOCIOLOGY IN THE HUMANITIES RESEARCH PROGRAM IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS FOR THE DEGREE OF DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY BY MARCELLE M.C.E SLAGTER B.A., M.A (HONS) (VUW NZ) BRISBANE 2009 2 CONTENTS CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY 4 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 5 ABSTRACT 6 PREFACE 7 1. WHY STUDY POVERTY PERCEPTION? 1.0 Prologue 8 1.1 Introduction 8 1.2 The Purpose of This Research Study 10 1.3 A Synopsis of the Prime Ministers’ Biographical Data 13 1.4 The Organisation of the Thesis 23 2. EXISTENTIAL PHENOMENOLOGY 2.0 Prologue 26 2.1 Introduction 27 2.2 Western Philosophy, Causal Theory and Phenomenology 27 2.3 The Phenomenology of Husserl 31 2.4 The Existential Phenomenology of Merleau-Ponty 33 2.5 Merleau-Ponty’s Phenomenology of Perception 37 2.6 Phenomenological Research and Methodology 42 2.7 Phenomenology and Language 45 2.8 Existential Phenomenology as an Applied Methodology 47 2.9 Conclusion 50 3. A BRITISH POLITICAL INHERITANCE OF MIND AND BEING 3.0 Prologue 52 3.1 Introduction 54 3.2 A Liberal English Inheritance: From the Old to the New 56 3.3 British Slavery, Self-Interest and Perceptions of Rights 60 3.4 The Poor Laws and Racial Poverty 69 3.5 Colonisation and Custom: A Pentimento of Old Thought 74 3.6 Unisocialism and Government 80 3.7 Liberalism, Protection and Free Trade 83 3.8 Conclusion 86 4. THE HUMANITARIAN PRIME MINISTERS 4.0 Prologue 89 4.1 Introduction 91 4.2 The Stout Story 91 4.3 Seddon’s Perspectives: Structuring Poverty Perception 95 4.4 The Mutable Genealogy of Poverty Perception 101 4.5 Land and Work 111 4.6 Housing, Defence, Alliances and Security – Lest We Forget 124 4.7 Conclusion 151 © Marcelle Slagter 3 5. THE RATIONALIST PRIME MINISTERS 5.0 Prologue 152 5.1 Introduction 154 5.2 Perception Driving Political, Social and Economic Direction 154 5.3 Rationality, Unity and Perspective in Party Politics 177 5.4. Middle-class Perception 192 5.5 Conclusion 226 6. POLITICAL IMPRESSIONISM: THE COLOUR OF POVERTY 6.0 Prologue 227 6.1 Introduction 227 6.2 Communicating Perception to Dominate Political Thought 228 6.3 Two Countries in Perceptual Reflection 238 6.4 Terrorism and Poverty 239 6.5 Findings 248 6.6 Poverty in Perception – Summary 257 6.7 Conclusion 260 7. THE MUTABILITY OF POVERTY PERCEPTION: CONCLUSION 7.0 Prologue 262 7.1 This Study in Overview 262 7.2 Final Conclusion 267 APPENDIX Table 1 – The Twentieth-century Australian and New Zealand 269 Prime Ministers (Chronologically) Table 2 – The Prime Ministers’ Place of Birth 275 Table 3 – The Twentieth-century Prime Ministers of Australia and 277 New Zealand (In Order of Service) Table 4 – The Twentieth-century Prime Ministers of Australia 279 and New Zealand (In Order of Birth) BIBLIOGRAPHY 281 © Marcelle Slagter 4 CERTIFICATE OF ORIGINALITY I hereby declare: 1. that this thesis is my own work and that, to the best of my knowledge and belief, it contains no material previously published or written by another person except where due acknowledgement is made in the text; 2. that this thesis contains no material that has been accepted for the award of any other degree or diploma of a university or other institute of higher learning. Signed: _______________________________ Marcelle M.C.E. Slagter © Marcelle Slagter 5 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS Dedication This thesis is dedicated to: My family – my children Nicole and Ranier, and my parents Jan (deceased) and Marita Slagter. With your love, support, and encouragement, this thesis was finally completed; and The cancer survivors and ostomates of Australia and New Zealand. “Life begins on the far side of despair” (Jean-Paul Sartre in Knowles 2001, 264). Sincerest Thanks My sincere thanks are extended to the following people and organisations: x Professor Clive Bean and Professor Gavin Kendall for their generous guidance, advice and academic support; x The staff of the QUT Library who cheerfully and professionally provided me with most of the material I needed for this thesis; x The staff of the National Library of New Zealand and Parliamentary Library of New Zealand for their willing and helpful service; x The staff of the former Department of Social Welfare (now the Ministry of Social Development & Work & Income New Zealand) in Napier, Hastings, and Wellington (Head Office) (NZ), particularly – Royce Cooper (deceased), John (Chum) Aldridge (deceased), Jackie Baird, Hilda Blasoni, Josephine Price, John Gilmore, Peter Irvine and Ann Reeves. Indirectly and unknowingly, you all contributed to the questions and thoughts that in time led to the research for this thesis. Your dedication to your work, to the welfare of other people, and to your faith in humanity, has positively served New Zealand at a level rarely, if ever, acknowledged; x My friends and draft editors Dr Karen Barnett and Kathleen Frost for providing feedback on the completed first draft of this thesis. Your time, patience and friendship have been invaluable; and finally x My copy editor Lorelei Waite for coming to my rescue and editing the final version of the thesis. In Gratitude I am very grateful to ‘The Research Degrees Committee’ at the Queensland University of Technology for providing funding for this research in the form of a: QUT Grant-in-Aid (GIA) Award and QUT Postgraduate Research Award (QUTPRA). © Marcelle Slagter 6 ABSTRACT Australia and New Zealand, as English-speaking nations with dominant white populations, present an ethnic anomaly not only in South East Asia, but also in the Southern Hemisphere. Colonised by predominantly working- class British immigrants from the late eighteenth century, an ethnic and cultural connection grew between these two countries even though their indigenous populations and ecological environments were otherwise very different. Building a new life in Australia and New Zealand, the colonists shared similar historic perceptions of poverty – perceptions from their homelands that they did not want to see replicated in their new adopted countries. Dreams of a better life shaped their aspirations, self-identity and nationalistic outlook. By the twentieth century, national independence and self-government had replaced British colonial rule. The inveterate occurrence of poverty in Australia and New Zealand had created new local perspectives and different perceptions of, and about, poverty. This study analyses what relationship existed between the political directions adopted by the twentieth-century prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand and their perceptions of poverty. Using the existential phenomenological theory and methodology of Maurice Merleau-Ponty, the study adds to the body of knowledge about poverty in Australia and New Zealand by revealing the structure and origin of the poverty perceptions of the twentieth-century prime ministers. Keywords: Australia, history, liberalism, media, Merleau-Ponty, New Zealand, perception, phenomenology, philosophy of perception, policy, political thought, politics, poverty, poverty perception, prime minister, prime minister of Australia, prime minister of New Zealand, sociology, unisocialism, values of social occupation. © Marcelle Slagter 7 Preface In the late twentieth century, the prime ministers of Australia and New Zealand declared that poverty, or more accurately absolute poverty, no longer existed in their countries. The gradual development of national legislation designed to prevent the occurrence of absolute poverty underlined the contribution successive governments had made to control poverty in the community during the twentieth century. As member countries of the United Nations, Australia and New Zealand’s political and economic efforts received favourable support in the United Nations’ campaign for worldwide poverty eradication. However, problems began to occur for both countries from the mid-1980s when nation-wide ‘soup kitchens’ suddenly emerged to address an economic recession. In analysing the social, political and economic position of Australia and New Zealand in the late twentieth century, questions arise as to why some of the characteristics of absolute poverty reappeared. Were the 1980s’ neoliberal economic policies of each country to blame? Did government safety-net laws and policies fail to meet community demands? This sociological study looks more closely at the essential theme of poverty and the history and phenomena that contributed to the prime ministers’ perceptions of poverty in the late twentieth century. © Marcelle Slagter 8 Chapter 1 Why Study Poverty Perception? “We should expect our system of social security to free us from dangers and from situations that tend to debase or to subjugate us.” (Foucault 2001, xix) 1.0 Prologue The idea for this thesis developed more than 20 years ago when I worked for the New Zealand Department of Social Welfare (now Work and Income New Zealand (WINZ), the New Zealand equivalent to Australia’s Centrelink). In July 1984, David Lange became prime minister of New Zealand, ending the more than eight-year term of Sir Robert Muldoon. The return of a Labour government in New Zealand carried the promise of a new direction in political thought and policy. The outcome of this phenomenon however, was far from predictable. From the early 1970s until the start of the new millennium, economics dominated party political thinking, subverting all other social considerations and possibilities for community development, balance and focus. Yet, reliance on
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