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Just deserts? ‘Privatisation’ and the history of deservingness in Australia's retirement incomes system

Just deserts? ‘Privatisation’ and the history of deservingness in Australia's retirement incomes... Over the last few decades, changes in Australia's retirement incomes policy, including the introduction of compulsory superannuation, have seen governments encourage individuals to provide for their own old age from private means. This process has been described as ‘privatisation’ of retirement incomes. However, beyond the ‘privatisation’ thesis, there has been little critical examination of what these changes have meant for the nature and relative importance of the different principles underpinning Australia's retirement incomes system. This paper aims to provide such an examination. Drawing on the principles of deservingness and need, the paper provides an historical analysis of the development of Australia's retirement incomes system, tracing how these two principles underpinned the first age pension and subsequently contributed to the emergence of compulsory superannuation. This approach provides a deeper understanding of how contemporary policy changes have altered the structure of Australia's retirement incomes system, arguing that there are important historical continuities as well as changes. It argues that the phrase ‘state‐supported private saving’, rather than ‘privatisation’, captures the nature of this contemporary reform process. http://www.deepdyve.com/assets/images/DeepDyve-Logo-lg.png Australian Journal of Social Issues Wiley

Just deserts? ‘Privatisation’ and the history of deservingness in Australia's retirement incomes system

Australian Journal of Social Issues , Volume 47 (4) – Dec 1, 2012

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References (21)

Publisher
Wiley
Copyright
© Australian Social Policy Association
eISSN
1839-4655
DOI
10.1002/j.1839-4655.2012.tb00260.x
Publisher site
See Article on Publisher Site

Abstract

Over the last few decades, changes in Australia's retirement incomes policy, including the introduction of compulsory superannuation, have seen governments encourage individuals to provide for their own old age from private means. This process has been described as ‘privatisation’ of retirement incomes. However, beyond the ‘privatisation’ thesis, there has been little critical examination of what these changes have meant for the nature and relative importance of the different principles underpinning Australia's retirement incomes system. This paper aims to provide such an examination. Drawing on the principles of deservingness and need, the paper provides an historical analysis of the development of Australia's retirement incomes system, tracing how these two principles underpinned the first age pension and subsequently contributed to the emergence of compulsory superannuation. This approach provides a deeper understanding of how contemporary policy changes have altered the structure of Australia's retirement incomes system, arguing that there are important historical continuities as well as changes. It argues that the phrase ‘state‐supported private saving’, rather than ‘privatisation’, captures the nature of this contemporary reform process.

Journal

Australian Journal of Social IssuesWiley

Published: Dec 1, 2012

Keywords: ; ; ; ;

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