THESES SIS/LIBRARY TELEPHONE: +61 2 6125 4631 R.G. MENZIES LIBRARY BUILDING NO:2 FACSIMILE: +61 2 6125 4063 THE AUSTRALIAN NATIONAL UNIVERSITY EMAIL: [email protected] CANBERRA ACT 0200 AUSTRALIA USE OF THESES This copy is supplied for purposes of private study and research only. Passages from the thesis may not be copied or closely paraphrased without the written consent of the author. In search of the Australian dole bludger Constructing discourses of welfare/ 197 4-83 Verity Archer A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy of the Australian National University June 2006 1 Declaration I hereby declare that this thesis is the result of my own independent research and that all authorities and sources used are duly acknowledged. Verity Archer 11 Acknowledgements This thesis would not have been possible without the generous support, encouragement and wisdom of my supervisor Marian Sawer, whose passion for the topic was an inspiration. Thank you also to my supervisor Ann Curthoys, whose advice seemed always akin to switching on a light in a dark (and scary) room. Most importantly, thank you for saving me from what seemed like the pits of Hell in 2002. I would not be here if not for your support. Thank you also to Rick Kuhn, who offered help and advice in the early stages of the thesis and to Ned Curthoys who read the final draft. A number of people have been vital in getting me this far. Margaret Lindley; I would not have embarked upon this mammoth task if not for your wonderful teaching and unwavering faith in me. My sister Danielle; thank you for riding out the 'Canberra experience' with me, and for listening to me moan and whinge on a number of occasions. And my parents; thank you for providing comfort, reassurance, and gossip from home and for being an avid supporter throughout the years. Finally, thank you to Jessie Mitchell for providing friendship and good, non-thesis-related conversation during my time at the ANU. This thesis is dedicated to the people of Burnie, Tasmania. 111 Abstract This thesis argues that the invention of dole-bludger discourse in 1974 was part of a broader struggle to replace Keynesianism with New Right economics. It uses a Gramscian framework to situate its argument and draws primarily on parliamentary debates, press articles, and the publications of economic think tanks for evidence. In 1974 Australia experienced the simultaneous rise of unemployment and inflation. Economic think tanks and business organisations constructed this economic 'stagflation' as a crisis in need of a radical cure, and proposed remedies in the form of a decreased welfare state. In doing so they actively adopted an American New Right project that had been under construction since the late 1960s. This project was translated into an Australian vernacular through media and parliamentary discourse. As part of this process the 'Australian taxpayer' was placed in discursive opposition to the newly invented 'dole bludger'. The importation of 'new class' discourse created another dichotomy, between taxpayers and welfare workers, or supporters of the welfare state more generally. Welfare was represented as the cause of economic problems rather than their cure. Dole-bludger discourse therefore rendered illegitimate the economic justice claims of the unemployed, focusing instead on the taxpayer as 'victim'. In doing so it separated workers from the welfare state and from the Left. Contents Declaration i Acknowledgements 11 Abstract 111 Abbreviations Vl Introduction 1 A history of bludgers A crisis of hegemony Using Antonio Gramsci Using discourse analysis Defining the New Right Historiography Sources and chapter outline 1. The New Right's global project 33 The USA and anti-welfare state discourse New Right leaders and ideology The emergence of the New Right The recession years Richard Nixon and the Republican Party 2. The growth of New Right welfare ideas in Australia 68 The Institute of Public Affairs 'Economic Education' and the American Influence The Centre for Independent Studies 3. The New Right, the government and the welfare state 89 The Treasury The dries New Right rhetoric in the Liberal and Country Parties The Coalition and new class discourse 4. Anti-redistribution. Pro-Australia! The Workers Party, 111 the economic right and Australian national Character The formation of the Workers Party Anti-authoritarianism Egalitarianism, anti-intellectualism and the new class of 'elites' Average Australians as workers 5. The press 139 1972-74: Pre-New Right frames 1974: The death of Keynes and the birth of the dole bludger An end to Keynes, Whitlam and the welfare state 1979-83: Solutions to the 'welfare problem' 6. The Australian tax revolt campaign - Popularising 165 New Right welfare frames The American tax revolt The Australian tax revolt Defining 'us' Tightening the belts of the 'new class' Welfare waste: Disputing disadvantage Us and them and supply-side economics Enemies and allies of 'the people' in politics 7. Unemployment benefit policy and the naturalisation of 191 fiscal restraint Economic 'crisis' and the Whitlam Government The Coalition and random removals: Bringing down the numbers Categorical removals: School leavers Categorical removals: Aboriginal assistance and the CDEP scheme The Myers Inquiry 8. Rights to welfare and rights to work - 222 Contradicting the New Right Liberal rights and empowerment for the poor: Whitlam era discourses The shift to New Right frames Discourses of suffering and appeals to the Right Liberal rights for the unemployed Collective identities and welfare claims: Uniting workers and the unemployed Conclusion 257 Bibliography 263 Vll Abbreviations AABO Assembly of Australian Business Organisations ABS Australian Bureau of Statistics ACCA Associated Chambers of Commerce in Australia ACOA Administrative and Clerical Officers Association A COSS Australian Council of Social Services ACP Australian Consolidated Press ACTU Australian Council of Trade Unions ACU American Conservative Union AEI American Enterprise Institute AFDC Aid to Families with Dependent Children AmCham American Chamber of Commerce in Australia CAPU Coalition Against Poverty and Unemployment CDEP Community Development Employment Projects Scheme CES Commonwealth Employment Service CIS Centre for Independent Studies vm CoPS Centre of Policy Studies CYSS Community Youth Support Scheme DSS Department of Social Security EA Enterprise Australia HWT Herald and Weekly Times Ltd. IEA Institute of Economic Affairs IPA Institute of Public Affairs LCP Liberal Country Party OECD Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development OEO Office of Economic Opportunity OPEC Organisation of the Petroleum Exporting Countries REDS Regional Employment Development Scheme SSAT Social Security Appeals Tribunal UWM Unemployed Workers Movement uwu Unemployed Workers Union vcoss Victorian Council of Social Services WEL Women's Electoral Lobby IX YAF Young Americans for Freedom 1 Introduction The invention of the term 'dole bludger' in 1974 marks a pivotal point in Australian welfare state history. Prior to this point, discursive constructions of the unemployed drew upon the figures of the 'deserving' and 'undeserving' poor, prominent throughout the 1930s Depression and in the decades of 'full employment' leading up to 1974. This new term constructed welfare recipients as parasites upon 'ordinary Australian' taxpayers and in doing so embodied an ideological and discursive shift occurring in relation to the welfare state. These new cognitive frames reflected an emerging struggle to define economic 'common sense' taking place in all western economies throughout the 1970s. Together the construction of new cognitive frames and the shift of institutional resources away from Keynesianism led to the fundamental transformation of welfare policy and discourse in Australia. Throughout this thesis I will argue for an inclusion of dole-bludger discourse within our broader understanding of Australia's shift to neo-liberalism. I will argue that the construction of the 'dole bludger' as the financial burden of the 'taxpayer' has been a vital part of a wider project to construct neo-liberal parameters for economic debate and to gain the consent and collaboration of workers in doing so. I will also argue that supporting discourses that constructed 'big government', bureaucracy and 'welfare elites' as participants in the taxpayer's financial burden bound workers to the welfare agendas of the New Right, a group united in their commitment to dismantling the welfare state in favour of market allocation. 1 Finally this thesis will argue that although these discourses existed prior to 1974, they were, at that time, peripheral. The worldwide stagflation enabled a radical New Right network to declare a state of 'economic crisis' and to provide a necessary 'cure'. This allowed the network to shift from the periphery, to incorporate its agenda into mainstream civil society and to compose an 'historic bloc', a network of actors within politics, business, media and education that together affected welfare ideology in a neo-liberal direction. In one sense then, this is an 'historical turning point' thesis. It begins its examination of Australian conceptions of the welfare state in 1973, focusing 1 The ideological composition of the New Right is discussed in more detail below 2 centrally on the stagflation of 1974 and the opportunities created by and awarded to the New Right during this 'crisis' and throughout the following decade. It draws on historical