WORKFARE IN THE 1980s: SUCCESSES AND LIMITS

Between 1981 and 1987 twenty-eight states experimented with workfare programs. By requiring mandatory community service from welfare recipients, the states hoped to reduce welfare caseloads as well as increase community service. Based in part on those program experiences, Congress included the first national workfare requirement in the 1988 welfare reform package (the Family Support Act). This study is the first to attempt to evaluate the implementation and impact of workfare on a national basis. A pooled, cross-section, longitudinal model is used to estimate the effect of workfare on AFDC caseloads. Despite the low level of state-level implementation, the evidence suggests that workfare may have contributed to welfare caseload reductions in the 1980s.     

THE CONCEPT OF PUBLIC MANAGEMENT AND THE AUSTRALIAN STATE IN THE 1980s

Abstract: The adoption of the discourse of management by Australian public services in the 1980s can be seen as a cultural revolution. Results-oriented management, subordinated to economic considerations, is the dominant approach. The upper levels of the public services have been remodelled in the form of a technically-oriented elite recruited on merit, defined in terms of higher education credentials, drawing a technical intelligentsia, or "new class", into public employment. Although "people and process" approaches, espoused in particular by women, find a place in the new culture, they are subordinated to the demands of scientific management. While the technical intelligentsia is resistant to traditional forms of bureaucratic authority and open to rational debate and new ideas, its members are not well equipped to take account of the substantive concerns of public policy and service provision. The distinctiveness of public management is submerged by inappropriate private sector models, and issues tend to be reduced to economic ones. The paradox that this culture has risen to prominence under Labor governments is explored and the developments are placed in the context of contemporary demands placed on the Australian state by private capital.     

THE CAREER SERVICE IN THE 1980s: WHAT ARE THE FACTS?

This paper seeks to provide statistics on how the career service has developed within Commonwealth Government administration over the past decade or so. On the basis of trends in these data some speculations are offered on how the career service might look in the 1980s. The views expressed are speculations, not forecasts. In Commonwealth administration, the career service concept has by and large been held to embrace staff employed in the Commonwealth Public Service (CPS) under the Public Service Act, particularly permanent staff. While it is possible to debate the extent of the career service, this paper will confine itself to full-time permanent, temporary and exempt staff of the CPS, employed under the Public Service Act. It thus excludes staff employed under other Acts, although the opportunities for movement of CPS staff to statutory authorities and back again should not be overlooked.     

PROMISES, PROMISES: CHILD ABUSE PREVENTION IN THE 1980s

The article reviews the history of the evolution of the definition of child abuse as a social problem, then analyzes the related legislative efforts to respond to the problem, giving special emphasis to child abuse prevention. Program outcomes of relevant primary prevention programs are discussed, as well as studies attempting to predict risk of child abuse. Specific conclusions related to the viability of primary prevention of violence to children are presented.     

DEVELOPING A FRAMEWORK FOR MANAGEMENT EDUCATION IN THE VICTORIAN PUBLIC SERVICE

Abstract: The Public Service Board of Victoria initiated a project in March 1989 to plan a framework for the development of competent managers. The methodology involved an examination of the current practices of 23 organisations, together with a worldwide literature search. The major findings were that the managerial task is similar across sectors, but the manager level and the environment are qualifying variables; that training, management education and development in private sector organisations and statutory bodies has total commitment from the chief executive, is closely linked to the business plan, forms part of an integrated human resource management system, and is continually reinforced by the organisation's culture and values; and that there is no strategic and focused approach to developing managers across the Victorian Public Service. The 21 recommendations covered the areas of investment and commitment, the development of a systematic approach by providing quality management programs based on core managerial competencies and the integration of training, education and development with performance management processes.
The implementation plan calls for pump-priming funds for resourcing and delivering high quality programs, a change in the culture, the adoption of a set of principles, the establishment of a management education unit, acceptance of a common language of competence for managers, and an integration of education and development needs with corporate plans through the performance improvement system. Commitment to implementation should result in a systematic approach to the formation of competent managers with the benefits flowing to the community through improved services, the government gaining by increased performance of the agencies, and public servants being able to reach their full potential.     

SCIENCE IN A PUBLIC SERVICE ENVIRONMENT: ARE STATUTORY AUTHORITIES THE ANSWER?*

Abstract: The Royal Commission on Australian Government Administration reported evidence of widespread morale problems among government scientists. A major contributing cause was seen as the environment under which science is conducted within a departmental structure. One solution which has been advocated by many scientists, although rejected by the RCAGA, is to transfer government scientific laboratories into statutory authorities.     

COMMONWEALTH STATUTORY AUTHORITIES: EXPLORING THE FIELD

In the December 1977 number of this Journal (vol. 36, no. 4, pp. 357–366), I presented a number of charts which had developed out of my consulting work on statutory authorities for the Coombs Royal Commission, and which sought to trace the pattern of creations and abolitions of such authorities over the period from 1901 to mid-1975. A supplementary list traced developments up to the end of 1976, when the article was prepared. Though I believed the listings were reasonably comprehensive, some statutory authorities are notoriously elusive, and readers were invited to suggest any additions or alterations that should be made.     

SOVIET AGRICULTURAL POLICY IN THE 1980

During the early 1960s. the USSR entered a stage where the pent-up forces for a higher standard of living no longer could be ignored. These forces showed in an increased demand for high-quality food products, particularly meat, and raised Soviet demand for feed grains. The Soviets came to rely increasingly on the world grain market for these—particularly on the United States. Nonetheless, consumer discontent over food supplies and the reliance on imported grain was a strategic weakness which the United States sought to exploit in 1980. The USSR reacted by formulating a IIFood PrOgramI1 that is the basis of today's Soviet agricultural policy. Its implications for trade could be significant.     

IMPACTS OF THE FARM FINANCIAL CRISIS OF THE 1980s ON RESOURCES AND POVERTY IN AGRICULTURALLY DEPENDENT COUNTIES IN THE UNITED STATES

The farm financial crisis of the 1980s has had a major effect on agriculturally dependent areas in the United States. The crisis has resulted in a large proportion of producers leaving agriculture, in a substantial decline in the number of rural businesses, and in the support for rural service bases. Although extensively analyzed, the crisis' impacts on resources and poverty have not been adequately evaluated.
This paper examines such impacts using parameters derived from USDA data and from extensive surveys of producers, business operators, and employees in rural communities. The results show effects on populations, services, and income that could lead to a substantial increase in the rates of poverty in these counties.
The paper concludes that the crisis, if left unaddressed, may result in a long-term loss of economic opportunities, accentuated rates of poverty, and reduced potential for economic development in agriculturally dependent areas in the United States.     

THE FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT STRATEGY OF THE VICTORIAN COALITION GOVERNMENT

Abstract: This article reviews the budget sector financial management strategy of the Victorian Coalition government in the crucial period from its election in October 1992 up to the 1993–94 budget. The twin goals set by the Coalition were the elimination of the current account deficit, and the reduction of debt levels. Given infrastructure pressures, the debt reduction goal will be a difficult one to achieve. More precisely, it will be a difficult one to achieve without relying upon instruments such as assets sales, which the Coalition has viewed as artificial debt reduction techniques. The capital expenditure plans embodied in the 1993–94 state budget were not consistent with the debt reduction plans specified only months earlier by the Coalition. Victoria's debt levels are quite moderate even by OECD standards. What makes debt levels a real issue for the state is the narrowness of the tax bases of the Australian states, and the fact that Victoria is taxing at something like its maximum levels (at least, without coordinated multi-state tax increases). It is argued that, if the states could be confident that their revenue positions would hold firm (concretely, that revenue and grants as a proportion of GSP would remain constant), the appropriate debt policy goal for Victoria would be stabilisation — rather than reduction — of its debt/GSP ratio. However, the foreshadowed trend reduction of real commonwealth grants, as part of the so-called national savings campaign, makes it appropriate for Victoria — given the circumstances in which it finds itself — to target the reduction of debt/GSP levels.     

REGULATING THE ACCOUNTABILITY OF CHARITABLE ORGANISATIONS: THE VICTORIAN EXPERIENCE

Abstract: This paper concentrates on the regulation of charitable organisations in the state of Victoria, where governments have sought to determine the bona fides of these organisations by obtaining their financial reports. A survey of the financial reports of registered Victorian charities indicates, however, that a significant proportion of charities do not supply this information. This deficiency indicates that government judgements about the bona fides of organisations cannot always be made, and the efficiency of regulation is therefore questioned. Other shortcomings in the regulation of charities are also identified. These include the problems incurred in seeking to implement these regulations and those which arise through the enforcement of the regulations themselves.