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On (Not) Becoming 'An Extension of the State'

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On (Not) Becoming 'An Extension of the State' ON (NOT) BECOMING ‘AN EXTENSION OF THE STATE’ IN ‘SEEKING THE FLOURISHING OF THE CITY’: A THEOLOGICALLY-INFORMED INQUIRY INTO THE IMPACT ON ‘CHURCH-RELATED’ AGENCIES’ OF CONTRACTING WITH GOVERNMENT TO PROVIDE SOCIAL WELFARE AND HUMAN SERVICES IN AUSTRALIA, 1996 TO 2013 By DOUGLAS GEORGE HYND (Bachelor of Commerce (Econ. Hons.), Bachelor of Divinity, Master of Public Policy) A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Faculty of Theology and Philosophy RESEARCH OFFICE AUSTRALIAN CATHOLIC UNIVERSITY NORTH SYDNEY CAMPUS (MACKILLOP) LEVEL 4, 19-21 BERRY STREET NORTH SYDNEY NSW 2059 Submitted: August 2016 DECLARATION This thesis contains no material published elseWhere, or eXtracted in Whole or in part from a thesis by Which I have qualified for, or been aWarded another degree or diploma. No parts of this thesis have been submitted toWards the aWard of any degree or diploma in any other tertiary institution. No other person’s Work has been used Without due acknoWledgment in the main teXt of the thesis. All research procedures reported in the thesis received the approval of the ACU Human Research Ethics Committee, (2013 82N). Douglas George Hynd 8 August, 2016 i AcknowLedgements Researching and writing this thesis has left me deeply indebted to many people. At the head of the queue are my supervisors. I am deeply grateful for the differing gifts that they each brought to the compleX task of supervising a thesis that moved across disciplinary boundaries and the seamless way they transferred responsibility between them. My debt to my initial chief supervisor Professor Robert Gascoigne is eXtensive, starting With his Willingness to supervise a research project across disciplinary lines. I thank him for his modelling of thoughtful scholarship, prompt processing of paperWork, gracious acceptance of theological differences, lunch at the Vietnamese restaurant at Flemington during visits to the Strathfield campus, and pastoral support. Associate Professor Patrick McCardle, Who encouraged me to undertake this project at ACU in the first place, took over the role of chief supervisor When the project Was Well advanced. I thank him for his assistance in navigating my Way through the University processes at the back end of the thesis and for providing encouragement, close reading and thoughtful advice on the structure and argument of the thesis. Associate supervisor Professor Paul Oslington provided friendship, good advice on writing, opened doors for me across the church Welfare sector and continued to insist on the importance of the topic. Professor Peter Camilleri assisted me With the ethics clearance and Was a valuable sounding board during the intervieW stages. I am thankful too for his unfailing sense of humour and company on several return trips to Sydney. Dr. Justin Barker, coming on board late in the process, provided a sounding-board on practical issues, helped me With my account of Working across disciplinary boundaries and ‘got’ what the project was all about. Interviewing the participants was a real pleasure. The willingness of all those who agreed to be intervieWed, to give of their valuable time, the quality of their engagement with the issues and their thoughtful and frank commentary provided striking evidence of the high quality of leadership in the church-related social Welfare sector. I particularly thank Kasy Chambers of Anglicare Australia, Lin Hatfield-Dodds then of UnitingCare Australia, Denis Fitzgerald of Catholic Social Services of Victoria and Tony Nicholson of The Brotherhood of St Laurence for suggestions about possible interviewees and their interest in the project. My thanks also go to Catholic Social Services Australia for circulating information on the project to their members and to John Bellamy at Anglicare Sydney for his assistance in organising interviews at that agency. Denis Fitzgerald was also a source of encouragement. He organised a Workshop for me to report on preliminary findings of the project and invited me to a round table on issues of identity and mission in the Catholic social welfare sector in February 2015. I discovered, while undertaking this project, research in a related field being undertaken by Wilma Gallet at the University of Melbourne. Conversation With her over the journey was encouraging, and her generosity in keeping me informed on her findings and thinking has been academic collegiality at its best. Thanks Wilma. Phil Fountain's Work in the field of religion and development opened fresh perspectives on the issues I was dealing with, and his suggestions about interesting and relevant reading Were alWays Worth paying attention to. Thanks Phil for friendship, intellectual insights and encouragement. Thanks, too, go to my friends Jarrod McKenna, Matt AnsloW and Justin Whelan, who were responsible for theologically-informed interventions in asylum seeker policy in Australia over the last three years, through ‘Love Makes a Way’. ii What that action revealed about this area of public policy in Australia helped inform my theological account of the contemporary nation-state in Australia. Friends from academe, the public service and church have shared in conversation often over lunch about the issues and the theology involved in this research over many years. I would like to thank, in no particular order, Ian Barns, Tjebbe Bekema, Bernie Yates, David Neville, Craig Ritchie, Chris Sadleir, Peter Hamburger, Adrian Wellspring, Ian Dalziel, Richard Donnelly and Graeme Grant. Professor John Uhr of ANU provided interesting conversation on the Australian political and public service conteXt. Thanks, too, to all the research students Who spent time in the PhD room in its various incarnations at ACU in Canberra, betWeen 2011 and 2016 and Who provided friendship and support. Last but not least has been the support of the family. I Want to thank in particular my son Evan for sharing his experience of the PhD journey at ANU, an adventure that overlapped With my own Work. I Want to thank my Wife Jillian Farrer for her continuing support and love. It Was great fun to have her company on trips to Queensland, South Australia and Western Australia for research intervieWs, turning them into really enjoyable, if all too brief, holidays. Hopefully We can noW enjoy together some of the Sabbaths that I failed to take in the course of my research and Writing. iii Abstract The Christian Churches in Australia are not only present in parishes and congregations but are also involved in a wide range of activities in the fields of social welfare, human services and social policy. The historical legacy of this involvement is organisationally- diverse and represents a significant presence in public policy in Australia. With the shift to contracting as a funding technology for social Welfare and human services in the 1990s, church-related agencies found themselves engaging in new ways with government. Nearly tWo decades later there has been relatively little research into the impact of the shift to contracting on these agencies, leaving unanswered the question as to whether, or not, they have now become simply an extension of the state. Driven by that fundamental question, this thesis is a theologically-informed inquiry into the impact of the shift to government contracting for social Welfare and human services with ‘church-related’ agencies in Australia betWeen 1996 and 2013. It has been undertaken to contribute both to the empirical evidence on the impact of contracting With government on these agencies and to assist agencies in reflecting on their mission, in the light of the impact of this pattern of engagement. The inquiry is shaped by its subject, and its institutional, sociological and theological contexts, rather than a specific discipline. The disciplines, and the theoretical insights draWn on for the research and the interpretation of the findings were chosen for both their theoretical utility and analytical relevance, including theology, Australian Welfare history, the sociology of religion, the sociology of organisations and public policy. An account of how the movement across disciplinary boundaries is undertaken is laid out at the beginning of the inquiry. Theologically the inquiry commences With articulations and developments of the tensions of exilic identity in seeking the flourishing of the city, the secular and sacred character of the contemporary state and hoW these are manifested in the maintenance of identity and mission for church-related agencies. The sociological processes of isomorphism, and organisational secularisation, provide the theoretical grounding for eXploring hoW these theological themes are manifested against the distinctive background of the Australian settlement of church-state engagement in social Welfare provision. The research involved analysis of publicly-available documentation including annual reports and strategic plans from a range of church-related social Welfare and human services agencies, denominational coordinating bodies, as well as extensive interviews With senior staff and board members on the impacts of, and agency responses to, contracting. The analysis explored issues of financial dependency, ecclesial connection, governance and tactics of response and resistance. The findings included the importance of intentionality by leadership and management of agencies in oWning the mission and identity of agencies along With settings of governance, funding, communication of theological commitments to staff of agencies that seem to be conducive to maintenance
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