(search under > Benevolent Institutions) In the early 1970s, successive Australian governments introduced reforms that reflected new ways of thinking about access to education, health and social welfare. Universal health care was introduced. The supporting mother’s benefit was introduced. The line’, the level of income below which people would not be living ‘poverty at an acceptable standard for Australian society, was established. It became a fundamental measure of the how well or not social security was supporting families and pensioners for the next 40 years. In 1969 Australian women were granted equal pay. The concept of a wage’, including both ‘social superannuation and universal health care, was introduced into wage bargaining to contain wage growth and inflation. The 1970s saw the closure of most of Australia’s benevolent institutions. Children’s homes and homes for people with a mental illness or people with a disability were closed down. In 1992 all State and territory governments agreed to work towards providing as much mental health care as possible outside of the institutional setting. In time, a number of enquiries were established that argued against removing children from their families and further urged that support be given to families to stay together. They also argued that if keeping the family together was not possible then foster care was the preferred alternative for the child. Most of the states abandoned their care facilities, with non-government agencies providing services, including arranging foster care. Some larger scale facilities however, continued to operate until the 1990s in New South Wales. This era saw a newly found emphasis on the location and servicing of welfare needs at the community level. Municipal services as well as local support and interest groups began to see a role for themselves in supplying services in response to local need. IMAGE: Colour photo of the Elsie Walk launch in Glebe, 28 May 2012. Elsie Walk is a tribute to the first women’s safe house established in 1974. Courtesy of Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney. IMAGE: Colour photo of a Medicare card. Medicare is the publicly funded universal health care scheme in Australia IMAGE: Black and white photo of a street scene in a residential area of Darwin after Cyclone Tracy in December, 1974. Photo shows damaged
(search under > Benevolent Institutions) In the early 1970s, successive Australian governments introduced reforms that reflected new ways of thinking about access to education, health and social welfare. Universal health care was introduced. The supporting mother’s benefit was introduced. The ‘poverty line’, the level of income below which people would not be living at an acceptable standard for Australian society, was established. It became a fundamental measure of the how well or not social security was supporting families and pensioners for the next 40 years. In 1969 Australian women were granted equal pay. The concept of a ‘social wage’, including both superannuation and universal health care, was introduced into wage bargaining to contain wage growth and inflation. The 1970s saw the closure of most of Australia’s benevolent institutions. Children’s homes and homes for people with a mental illness or people with a disability were closed down. In 1992 all State and territory governments agreed to work towards providing as much mental health care as possible outside of the institutional setting. In time, a number of enquiries were established that argued against removing children from their families and further urged that support be given to families to stay together. They also argued that if keeping the family together was not possible then foster care was the preferred alternative for the child. Most of the states abandoned their care facilities, with non-government agencies providing services, including arranging foster care. Some larger scale facilities however, continued to operate until the 1990s in New South Wales. This era saw a newly found emphasis on the location and servicing of welfare needs at the community level. Municipal services as well as local support and interest groups began to see a role for themselves in supplying services in response to local need. IMAGE: Colour photo of the Elsie Walk launch in Glebe, 28 May 2012. Elsie Walk is a tribute to the first women’s safe house established in 1974. Courtesy of Clover Moore, Lord Mayor of Sydney. IMAGE: Colour photo of a Medicare card. Medicare is the publicly funded universal health care scheme in Australia IMAGE: Black and white photo of a street scene in a residential area of Darwin after Cyclone Tracy in December, 1974. Photo shows damaged