The Same but Different: How People with a Partial Capacity to Work
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
The University of Notre Dame Australia ResearchOnline@ND Theses 2014 The same but different: how people with a partial capacity to work are governed in recent policy changes to the Australian income support system and the National Disability Insurance Scheme L St Guillaume The University of Notre Dame Australia Follow this and additional works at: https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses Part of the Arts and Humanities Commons COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA Copyright Regulations 1969 WARNING The material in this communication may be subject to copyright under the Act. Any further copying or communication of this material by you may be the subject of copyright protection under the Act. Do not remove this notice. Publication Details St Guillaume, L. (2014). The same but different: how people with a partial capacity to work are governed in recent policy changes to the Australian income support system and the National Disability Insurance Scheme (Doctor of Philosophy (College of Arts and Science)). University of Notre Dame Australia. https://researchonline.nd.edu.au/theses/122 This dissertation/thesis is brought to you by ResearchOnline@ND. It has been accepted for inclusion in Theses by an authorized administrator of ResearchOnline@ND. For more information, please contact [email protected]. The Same but Different: How people with a partial capacity to work are governed in recent policy changes to the Australian income support system and the National Disability Insurance Scheme Louise St Guillaume This thesis is presented for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at The University of Notre Dame School of Arts and Sciences 2014 TABLE OF CONTENTS ABSTRACT V DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS viii ABBREVIATIONS ix INTRODUCTION 1 Sameness and Difference 7 The Social Model 10 Thesis Structure 15 CHAPTER ONE: POLICY CONTEXT 19 Introduction 19 Australia’s Welfare State 19 Policy Emergence 27 Income Management 36 Income Management and the Northern Territory Emergency 38 Response Other Types of Income Management 41 The National Disability Insurance Scheme 45 The Future and the Partial Capacity to Work category: 50 2014-15 Budget Changes and McClure Conclusion 51 CHAPTER TWO: LITERATURE REVIEW 54 Introduction 54 Governmentality Scholars and the Welfare State 55 i Disability Studies Scholars and the Welfare State 64 Welfare to Work: the medical model or the social model of 72 disability? Deinstitutionalisation, reinstitutionalisation and the National 79 Disability Insurance Scheme Critical Race and Whiteness Studies Scholars and Income Management 89 Indigenous people and the welfare state 90 New Income Management 103 Conclusion 105 CHAPTER THREE: METHODOLOGY AND METHODS 111 Introduction 111 Review of the Research Question and Objectives 112 Methodologies 113 Governmentality 113 Usefulness of governmentality for analysing policy and its 120 relevance to this study Critical Disability Studies 123 A Qualitative Approach: Foucauldian Discourse Analysis 131 Policy 133 Employment and Workplace Relations Legislation Amendment 135 (Welfare to Work and Other Measures) Act 2006 Social Security and Other Legislation Amendment (Welfare 136 Reform and Reinstatement of the Racial Discrimination Act) Act 2010 Family Assistance and Other Legislation Amendment Act 2011 136 ii National Disability Insurance Scheme Act 2013 137 Limitations of the Study 137 Conclusion 139 CHAPTER FOUR: SAMENESS, WELFARE TO WORK AND 140 PEOPLE WITH A PARTIAL CAPACITY TO WORK Introduction 140 A Shift from Difference to Sameness 142 The Expectation of Formal Paid Employment 149 Sameness and the Mutual Obligation Contract 162 Breaching Penalties 165 Conclusion 174 CHAPTER FIVE: INCOME MANAGEMENT AND CONTINUED 181 SAMENESS Introduction 181 Long-Term Welfare Payment Recipients and the Able-Bodied Norm 184 Sameness and Time 188 The Exemption Criteria 190 Sameness and Priority Needs 192 Conclusion 193 CHAPTER SIX: GOVERNING THROUGH DIFFERENCE: 196 PEOPLE WITH A PARTIAL CAPACITY TO WORK AND NATIONAL DISABILITY INSURANCE SCHEME PARTICIPANTS Introduction 196 Hybrid Rationalities 199 Choice, Control and Autonomy 207 iii Neoliberal market principles 216 Defining (or confining) choice, expectations and flexibility by 221 responsibility and reasonable and necessary Income support and responsibility 225 Individual Risk and Social Risk 228 Deserving and legitimate versus undeserving and illegitimate 234 impairment Conclusion 237 CONCLUSION 243 People with a Partial Capacity to Work 247 REFERENCE LIST 250 iv ABSTRACT Since initial concerns were raised by disability studies scholars and the disability movement with the Australian government’s Welfare to Work reforms there has been a dearth of scholarship on how the partial capacity to work category, created through the reforms, is governed (particularly through other policies). The 2006 Welfare to Work reforms implemented by the former Howard government (1997 – 2007) excluded those people with disability assessed as capable of working 15-29 hours per week from the disability specific income support payment, the Disability Support Pension. Instead, they were eligible for the unemployment benefit Newstart Allowance and, alongside the unemployed, had to meet certain state requirements to remain eligible for payment, such as applying for jobs and attending interviews. This research, in addressing this gap, examines how people with a partial capacity to work are governed with regard to recent changes to the income support system and the disability care and support system through the National Disability Insurance Scheme for people with disability. The research examines the possibility that people with a partial capacity to work in the Northern Territory could have their income support payments managed by the government through a policy intersection between the Welfare to Work reforms and Income Management. By applying both governmentality and critical disability studies as the methodological approach and undertaking a Foucauldian discourse analysis of key policy documents, the research found that people with a partial capacity to work are governed through sameness and difference, which negatively impacts on their equality and access. The research suggests that people with a partial capacity to work are governed in Welfare to Work and income management through an able-bodied norm. This is problematic as it ignores the social barriers that people with disability experience, such as inaccessible v communities; impairment barriers, such as pain and episodic illness; and the meaning subscribed to impairment. The research also found that people with a partial capacity to work are governed by authoritarian rationalities in the income support system as opposed to participants in the National Disability Insurance Scheme, who are regulated by social rationalities of government. These findings suggest that there is a need to move beyond governing people with a partial capacity to work through sameness and difference and emphasises the importance of examining policy intersections in constructing and regulating subjects. vi DECLARATION OF AUTHORSHIP This thesis is the candidate’s own work and contains no material which has been accepted for the award of any degree or diploma in any other institution. To the best of the candidate’s knowledge, the thesis contains no material previously published or written by another person, except where due reference is made in the text of the thesis. SIGNED: LOUISE ST GUILLAUME DATE: October 24, 2015 vii ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS First and foremost, I would like to thank my supervisors Dr Catherine Thill and Dr Denise Buiten, for their support, guidance, encouragement and patience, to which I am forever indebted. I would also like to thank the University of Notre Dame, the School of Arts and Sciences staff and the Research Office for their support throughout this process. I must also extend my gratitude to my editor Moira Tampoe whose efficiency and professionalism was much appreciated. In addition, I would like to thank my supervisor during my Summer Scholarship at the Parliamentary Library, Dr Luke Buckmaster; the Parliamentary Library for the opportunity to learn from the parliamentary librarians; and the Social Policy Section. Finally, I must thank my family and friends for their support, in particular my mother and Isoa for their love and encouragement. viii ABBREVIATIONS ABC Australian Broadcasting Corporation ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics ACOSS Australian Council of Social Services ACT Australian Capital Territory AES Active Employment Strategy APY Anangu Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara CDS Critical Disability Studies CEO Chief Executive Officer CIM Compulsory Income Management CRAWS Critical Race and Whiteness Studies CTH Commonwealth DDA Disability Discrimination Act DEEWR Department of Education, Employment, and Workplace Relations DES Disability Employment Services DHS Department of Human Services DSP Disability Support Pension DSS Department of Social Services EFTPOS Electronic Funds Transfer at Point of Sale FRC Family Responsibilities Commission JSA Job Services Australia LAC Local Area Coordinators LCAS Little Children are Sacred ix NDIA National Disability Insurance Agency NDIS National Disability Insurance Scheme NSA Newstart Allowance NT Northern Territory NTER Northern Territory Emergency Response NWRN National Welfare Rights Network OECD Organisation for Economic Cooperation and Development PCW Partial Capacity to Work POS Program of Support PP Parenting Payment PWDA People with Disabilities Australia